Maxim Shchapov

"Cafe Nostalgia" is a playful project that aims to explore the medium of role-playing games as ergodic literature (Aarseth, 1999), using the approach of performative co-creation as a ludic method (Jahrmann, 2021) of artistic research and creative storytelling. Thematically, it deals with nostalgia and malleability of memory: the bittersweet longing, the murky waters of imagined past, and the darkness that hides in the corners of our consciousness. Together, players tell a shared story to blur the distinction between emerging narratives and lived memories.

The project consists of a role-playing game system and an interactive installation. Both are meant to be engines of narrative design that enable players to tell their own stories.