The arcade is free, open to everyone, and you can pop in any time you like. Come and say hi!

Come along to one of our arcade days at The Ancient Priors to play fun multiplayer games, team up with your friends, experiment with some alternative controllers, and maybe discover a new game or two from the weirder side of independent developers’ brains.

Delight in striking visuals, colourful imagery, intuitive controls for a slice of Indie game fun.

Run by Jo Summers under the banner of ‘Press Fire to Win’, Pop Up Arcade has been running in various forms since 2014, as part of the Brighton Digital Festival, and alongside the Develop conference in Brighton. Jo also runs events around celebrating women’s work in games, and the Global Game Jam every year.

Expect fun, excitement, cooperation, betrayal, flashing lights, big buttons, beeps and boops, and the opportunity to discover some fun new games you might not have tried yet. We hope to see you there!

Goliath: Playing with Reality by Anagram
All realities are imagined. It’s the ones we share that endure.

Goliath Playing with Reality is a 25 minute animated VR experience about schizophrenia, gaming and connection, presented here as a virtual reality installation of the expanded game world of Goliath.

Through mind-bending animation, explore the limits of reality and a true story of mental health and the power of gaming. Echo (narrated by Tilda Swinton) guides you through the many realities of Goliath, a man who spent years isolated in psychiatric institutions but finds connection in multiplayer games.

Combining heart-felt dialogue, mesmerising visuals and symbolic interactions, weave through multiple worlds to uncover Goliath’s poignant story.

Antipsychotic by Matt McCorkle
Dive into Antipsychotic and journey through the mind of someone with bipolar disorder. This immersive experience marries poetic reflections and personal narratives with captivating audio-reactive visuals and evocative soundscapes, set to the beat of poignant music. It’s more than just listening; it’s feeling and exploring the nuanced challenges of mental health.

With user-friendly game controls and a tactile haptic system, participants are urged to delve deep, navigating a landscape rich with personal experiences. Utilising cutting-edge XR technologies and spatial audio, Antipsychotic isn’t just a story—it’s a harmonious blend of introspection and raw emotion, offering a profound glimpse into pre and post-treatment sentiments.

[Content Guidance: Contains discussions around mental health issues]

Deep by Owen Harris and Niki Smit
A breath controlled virtual reality experience that invites players to navigate through a serene and poetic underwater world. Movement is controlled by slow, deep diaphragmatic breathing which soothes and relieves anxiety in the player. Since 2016 research partners at the Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab, Radboud University have conducted several studies demonstrating the efficacy of DEEP as an intervention tool for young people with anxiety. The experience is now being applied to a range of conditions including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Long COVID and Functional Neurological Disorders.

Asymmetrically Distributed Hyper Dynamism by Simon Wilkinson, BRiGHTBLACK
BRiGHTBLACK present a video game artwork about ADHD, a science fiction playable podcast built into a retro arcade cabinet, set within a dream, documenting a day on ADHD medication.

As the drug kicks in and the symptoms disappear one by one, the artists explore the comedic juxtaposition between an ADHD brain which finds itself in a world where it can thrive vs one where it is doomed to cause annoyance.

Entry: Free

There will be a panel discussion at 1.45pm – 2.30pm drawing on themes within the Embodied Realities exhibition. Full details here

For one night only, Fabrica Gallery transforms into a fleeting dream, with beats that pulse and thrum like the heart of the night and melodies that meander like a wisp of dreamy fog, you’ll find yourself in a realm of pure ethereality. Shadows morph and dance with you, salt lamps cast an incandescent spell, and UV light reveals the secrets of this liminal space.

Who Is Still Dreaming? Is brought to you by local arts producer, creative community organiser and artist Tarik Elmoutawakil,  (Marlborough Productions/ Brownton Abbey/ Radical Rhizomes). Co-produced by installation artist Thomas Buckley.

Who is Still Dreaming? is part of the wider programme of Dreamy Place Launch Programme delivered by Lighthouse.

Visitors are invited to connect, collaborate or just hang out in the sonic field. With an international crew of invited artists, the exhibition will change and develop everyday so multiple visits are advised.

Launch event: Wednesday 18th October, 7pm – 10pm
Exhibition runs: Thursday 19th October, 2pm – 9pm / Friday 20th October, 2pm – 9pm / Saturday 21st October, 2pm – 9pm / Sunday 22nd October, 2pm – 9pm

Free entry, no booking required. Gallery information here

There will be livestreams throughout the duration of the exhibition.

You are invited to the Telegram channel Operator and Conductors where you can engage with the work. Please scan the QR code to access:

About the artist

Moss is a multi-disciplinary artist interested in sense perception, time, networked systems, insect perception, tree intelligence and experiences of beings that are not human.

Moss’ (they/them) practice spans sound, film, browser-based art and bio art. They are part of a community of engineers and technologists, that are invested in exploring alternate methods of knowledge production. Their video and installation work has been shown in multiple exhibitions in Milan, Toronto, Dresden, Brighton, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Himachal and Goa.

They are a part of Cynk Collective, a noise band producing immersive audio-visual concerts. In addition, they are the artistic director at Walkin Studios, an independent multidisciplinary art studio and project space in Bangalore, India and have co-founded the collective NOTAAT with artist Puneet Jain.

Moss previously worked under the name Sultana Zana (and featured in Anti Frieze 2 Octobers ago)

Special guests to be announced soon!

Usually off limits to the public, the secret 80-metre tunnel will be transformed into an immersive installation of sound, video and light.

For three days only the tunnel will be transformed into a luminescent landscape with sounds by Chinese artist GUAN as part of a collaborative installation co-created and produced by artist Thomas Buckley.

Special thanks to British Council and Arts Council England for their support in making this project happen.

WARNING: Strobing lights (not safe for people with epilepsy or light sensitivity) and uneven floors (please be careful when walking in the tunnel as it is also dark) – please be aware before entering the space.

Enter into a synaesthetic world of swirling light and soothing spatial music that combines in a bioluminescent symphony, exploring the connective between individual collective consciousness, the environment and the biosphere. You are invited melt into the space, to stretch, relax and to give your body what it needs.

Deep by Owen Harris and Niki Smit
A breath controlled virtual reality experience that invites players to navigate through a serene and poetic underwater world. Movement is controlled by slow, deep diaphragmatic breathing which soothes and relieves anxiety in the player. Since 2016, research partners at the Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab, Radboud University have conducted several studies demonstrating the efficacy of DEEP as an intervention tool for young people with anxiety, including: its role in long term efficacy in reducing anxiety and enhancing long term efficacy via a full randomised control trial, and its ability to reduce disruptive classroom behaviour in children with complex needs. The experience is now being applied to a range of conditions including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Long COVID and Functional Neurological Disorders.

Asymmetrically Distributed Hyper-Dynamism by Simon Wilkinson, BRiGHTBLACK
BRiGHTBLACK present a video game artwork about ADHD, a science fiction playable podcast built into a retro arcade cabinet, set within a dream, documenting a day on ADHD medication.

As the drug kicks in and the symptoms disappear one by one, the artists explore the comedic juxtaposition between an ADHD brain which finds itself in a world where it can thrive vs one where it is doomed to cause annoyance.

Please note: There are limited spaces available for a number of the virtual reality experiences. Sign up times will be available on the day. We recommend arriving early to avoid disappointment.

There will be an interactive panel discussion at 3.30pm – 5pm drawing on themes within the Embodied Realities exhibition. Full details here

Free entry.

Speakers

• Jane Green- Founder and Chair of SEDSConnective
• Lennie Varvarides – Founder of MSFT Management & DYSPLA
• Simon Wilkinson – Co-director of BRiGHTBLACK

Moderated by Sarah Ticho

This will be a free event.

This interactive panel discussion will draw on themes within the Embodied Realities exhibition.

Speakers bios

Jane Green MBE
Jane trained as a secondary school and special needs teacher. She is Founder and Chair of SEDSConnective a charity supporting neurodivergent and symptomatic hypermobile people.

She appears regularly on radio and TV including Inside Health Radio 4, and regularly presents on education, safeguarding and Special educational needs and disabilities ( SEND ) education at Westminster and national conferences.. She is disabled, multiply neurodivergent and parent carer for her eldest neurodivergent adult child.

She received an MBE this year for services to neurodivergent people and those with related joint hypermobility conditions including Ehlers-Danlos syndromes.

Lennie Varvarides
Lennie Varvarides is a first generation Cypriot, born in London to immigrant parents and brought up in the rag trade. Lennie studied Visual Arts at UAL and has an MA in Writing for Performance from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

MSFT LTD was incorporated in 2011 and represents professional actors for the entertainment industry. and DYSPLA was incorporated in 2013 to produce and develop the work of Neurodivergent storymakers with continued project funding from the Arts Council England.

DYSPLA produces film, theatre and installation and is an advocacy for the Neurodivergent creative advantage. As Creative Director, Lennie runs DYSPLA_Chat, a peer-to-peer monthly gathering of like-minded Neurodivergent creatives, to discuss Neurodivergent creativity, methodology, and strategy.

Simon Wilkinson
Simon Wilkinson makes playable, immersive artworks which have featured at Tate Modern and toured to 36 nations in the past decade. He is co-director of BRiGHTBLACK, a POC / neurodiverse led arts company based in London / Brighton.