Giles Askham is an Artist and Lecturer. Previously the Director of Peterborough Digital Arts, he is interested in play as a means of engagement and an activator of arts projects.

As we move away from traditional computing paradigms of window, icon, menu and pointing device, to explore haptic, physical and embodied engagements – how has the relationship between people and information technology been altered by these new approaches?

If general computing changed the nature of the office and the work that occurred there, will tangible media have a similar effect on how we play? As the study of Human Computer Interaction takes a phenomenological turn and focuses on the user of IT systems, what will distinguish our relationships with the next generation of embedded technology?

Cubed is Askhams’ latest project. Developed in collaboration with Luke Hastilow and recently commissioned by Folly, Cubed seeks to develop relationships between players and their games. It provides a physical gaming system that is used for the playing, storing and sharing of traditional childrens' playground games. Children are invited to inscribe the rules of their games within a simple tangible system that can be passed on to, played with, and adapted by others.