Philip Speakman

philipspeakman@hotmail.com
@philipspeakman
based in London.

The Thing in The Basement, presentation, 2026
It May Start Out as a Game..., journal article, 2025
The Road That Eats Thoughts, live role play game, 2025
Reality Break, audio for radio, 2024
Katabasing, XR performance, 2024
A Self-Induced Hallucination, workshop, 2024
Chapel Perilous , moving image, 2023
The Forked Path, moving image, 2023
After Cottingley, engraved mirror, 2023
The Fauna of Mirrors, sculptural moving image, 2022
Transforming Through the Screen..., critical writing, 2022
No Flaming House, collaborative moving image, 2021
The Err, outdoor sculpture, 2021
Tell, story telling sessions, 2018-2019

CV

The Thing in The Basement

academic presentation/LARP
20 minutes
2026

Presented at the symposium ‘Is this still play?’ at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the work functions as both an academic presentation and a form of LARP, by presenting on a fictional story and asking the audience to critically engage in the subject as-if it were real. Using audio testimony and storytelling, the presentation recounts the time a group of Meta employees summoned something through a game of Dungeons and Dragons. The work invites the audience to discuss the story, the history of D&D, virtual and online spaces, and Silicon Valley’s relationship to medieval fantasies, with the purpose of to extending the magic circle and collectively suspending disbelief to critically and creative examine the presentations subject and ideas.