Exploring Relooted and the Intersection of Gaming and Repatriation

Join us for an engaging session centered on Relooted, an innovative video game by South African studio Nyamakop. In the game, players embark on a high-stakes mission to reclaim African artifacts from Western museums, blending action with cultural restitution.
Following a gameplay demonstration, Ben Myres, CEO & Creative Director of Nyamakop, and Mohale Mashigo, Narrative Director at Nyamakop, will join Erica P. Jones, senior curator of African arts at the Fowler Museum, in conversation. The discussion, moderated by Jenna Caravello, Assistant Professor of Design Media Arts and Associate Director of the UCLA Game Lab, will explore the research, narrative strategies, and cultural considerations behind the game’s development. It will also examine the broader implications of repatriation in the museum sector, highlighting the Fowler Museum’s initiatives to return cultural heritage to Indigenous communities. This program offers a unique opportunity to explore how digital media can illuminate and advocate for the return of cultural artifacts, fostering a deeper understanding of the ongoing dialogue between museums and the communities they serve.
Jenna Caravello is an Assistant Professor at UCLA in the department of Design Media Arts, Associate Director of the UCLA Game Lab, and an artist working across animation, installation, and video game forms. Her practice uses game systems and often non-human perspectives to stage deeply personal narratives that center absurdity, liminality, love, and loss. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at REDCAT, the Melbourne International Animation Festival, Seoul National University College of Fine Arts, Raindance, GIRAF, and Slamdance.
Erica P. Jones is senior curator of African arts and manager of curatorial affairs at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. She has curated exhibitions including The House Was Too Small: Yoruba Sacred Arts from Africa and Beyond and Meleko Mokgosi: Bread, Butter, and Power. Jones serves on the board of African Arts journal and co-chairs the Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices Working Group. Her research focuses on colonial-era collecting, provenance, and the arts of the Cameroon Grassfields.
Mohale Mashigo is a multi-disciplinary storyteller: novelist, songwriter, and narrative designer. She is the author of the bestselling novel The Yearning and the short-story collection Intruders, and has written comics for Marvel and DC. As Narrative Director at Nyamakop, she is responsible for worldbuilding and creating unforgettable characters for the African-futurist heist game Relooted.
Ben Myres is CEO and Creative Director of Johannesburg-based game studio Nyamakop. In 2018, Nyamakop released Semblance, the first African-developed game to launch on a Nintendo console. Ben previously served as Program Manager for A MAZE. / Johannesburg and lectured in game design at Wits University. He has been recognized on Mail & Guardian's 'Top 200 Young South Africans', Design Indaba's 'Emerging Creatives', and Forbes Africa's '30 under 30'.
This program is presented in partnership with Nyamakop, the UCLA Game Lab, and the UCLA Department of Design Media Arts.

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