Pop-up Exhibition by Beckmans College of Design

What happens when play becomes a way of exploring the future? This pop-up exhibition presents games and sports created by students from Beckmans College of Design, where play is used as a tool to investigate social sustainability, power, and possible societies.

In autumn 2025, Gabriel Fontana, designer and educator, led a course in social sustainability within the Form Programme (Year 2) at Beckmans College of Design. The assignment was based on the theme The Politics of Play. Four student groups were each given a fictional future world and tasked with creating a game or sport that reflects its values, structures, and social rules.

From 23–25 January, visitors can experience the students’ projects at the Cell in a pop-up exhibition presented alongside Gabriel Fontana’s work Fluid Field. The exhibition invites audiences to try out the games and reflect on what they reveal about possible societies, relationships, and future scenarios.

Course leader: Louise Barthon

Gabriel Fontana’s participation in the course was a collaboration between the Cell and Beckmans College of Design, and forms part of his contribution to the exhibition series Me You We – Exploring Human Behaviour.