The barn at the Catskills farm
We’re approaching a cultural moment in the history of New York City where there’s really no excuse not to go upstate for a weekend of arts and games. First, we told you about Offsite; then Summer Camp; and then last week, we wrote about The Last Weekend, a three-day food, arts and crafts festival taking place in September in the Catskills. Now comes Heptagames, a “festival of games, installations, and performances” taking place in the Catskills this weekend.
Heptagames is curated by Joe Ahearn, who also organizes events and performances for the Silent Barn and the Clocktower Gallery, and acts as managing director for Showpaper, Todd P’s free bi-weekly DIY and all-ages show listings publication. The festival will take place in verdant Delaware County, on sprawling farmland owned by TriBeCa restauranteur Gerry Kagan.
“‘I’ve been helping the Kagan family organize small games getaways for 20-30 friends of ours and our families since I was young,” Ahearn says. “They’ve always been big supporters of what I do. When Silent Barn found its new home, Gerry approached me about planning a project for his barn with our Barn.”
This is the first year Heptagames will be opened up to the public — Ahearn expects 70 to 80 people will attend. Games include Barnball, an “intense action team game played with 4 balls simultaneously using the entire volume of a vast dairy barn”; the Flag Game, a twist on capture the flag “utilizing the flags of almost every nation of the world” and set in a spruce plantation; and The PlazaSphere, a spherical board game for three players.
“Most of the games inhabit vast expanses of wooded area and are intended for groups of people to play,” says Cash Bundles, one of the participating artists (he co-designed The PlazaSphere). “It will be like the Gathering of the Juggalos but way more interesting because we’re socialist nerds legitimizing a new medium.”
Tickets to Heptagames cost $75 and include transportation, meals and lodging at the on-site barn, although camping is also encouraged. The caravan to the camp leaves the Silent Barn at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning and returns the next morning.
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