"Bringing together the arts, technology and social sciences has given us an opportunity to explore how emerging and online and mobile communication technologies can be used to create engaging new experiences with the technologies outside their original purpose. The work has been inspirational and thought provoking for us and its influence will extend further than the current project." Kenton O'Hara, HP Labs
In 2006, Hazel Grian spent three months in HP Labs in Bristol in the Mobile and Media Systems Lab, funded as part of Arts Council England's Insights programme. With an open brief to collaborate with Labs researchers around video on mobile devices, Hazel focussed on the narrative possibilities of Alternative Reality Games.
"I really wanted a chance to work side by side with technologists. The outcome was great, I was inspired by their application of forward-looking ideas into actual technology. They seemed to welcome my input of creative ideas from an outsider's viewpoint." Hazel Grian, Licorice Films
In January 2007, Hazel moved into an office in Watershed and launched MeiGeist, an Alternative Reality Game created from the research undertaken as part of the residency. Blending fiction with reality by telling its story across different media including websites, text message, live events and email, 30,000 people around the world took part in the game which lasted eight weeks. Hazel (described by The Simpson’s creator Matt Groening as ‘a funny filmmaking genius’) describes the concept:
"Playing Meigeist means you follow a really entertaining story with great characters, very much set in the real world with a few sci-fi additions. You won’t have to pretend you’re a wizard or open a virtual bank account in somewhere called Zordax or anything. There’s loads of separate bits of video, puzzles and websites you can enjoy but of course it’s a lot more satisfying if you do the detective work and discover the whole story from beginning to end. What you will be able to do with Meigeist is have a go without fear of it being totally beyond you and you’ll really feel you’re part of something cool."
Referred to as ‘the funniest game of all time!” and “the ARG event of the year!", reviews by players of the game are available at the ARG forum. A player-created wiki documented the story as in unfolded at www.meigeist.com.
MeiGeist was supported by HP Labs, Arts Council England, South West Screen, Watershed and The University of the West of England.