Harold Hejazi

Harold Hejazi is a Canadian artist and game designer based in Helsinki. Drawing from a background in art education, theatre, and game development, Harold’s creative work explores new forms of public involvement in the arts. Since 2015, he has been creating games and participatory performances in collaboration with the educational departments of museums. His current performance practice uses video games as a medium for playable theatre that examines social issues in Finnish society.

Whether designing projects for a museum or theatre, Harold is always interested in how game forms can be applied to enhance how we learn, connect, and tell stories.

Harold Hejazi will be speaking at the Museums, Games & Play Summit :

Ateneum Game: Multiplayer Mobile Games and the Museum Game Console

This past year, Ateneum Art Museum partnered with artist Harold Hejazi to engage their audience with the central questions surrounding their new permanent exhibition. The resulting museum game console, “Ateneum Game,” is not exactly a PlayStation or an N64, but it aspires to capture players’ imaginations just the same. Participants are invited to select from a catalogue of games and play with other museum visitors using their mobile devices. The games explore the exhibition’s themes through activities such as humorous art history trivia, ruthless art criticism, and competitive creative writing. This presentation will discuss the visitor experience, the strengths and weaknesses of this new initiative, and how Ateneum Game encourages visitors to connect with art and each other.