Nicole High-Steskal & Natalie Denk

Nicole High-Steskal is a cultural heritage expert at the University for Continuing Education. Her work deals with topics at the intersection of technology, ethics, and cultural heritage and she is currently leading the research project LiviaAI (https://livia-ai.github.io/) in collaboration with three of Vienna’s leading museums.

Natalie Denk is acting as Head of the Center for Applied Game Studies at the University for Continuing Education Krems since July 2019. Since 2014, she has been involved in various research projects at the center as well as in teaching. Her research focuses on Game-based Education, Educational Game Design, and the gender dimension of digital gaming culture.

Cultural Mediation through Play & Games

FROG 2022 – Workshop

In this workshop we will focus on play-based approaches in the field of art and culture. The programme starts with an introductory lecture by Nicole High Steskal that will tackle the following topics:

Museums and cultural institutions have long recognized the need to build relationships with their visitors. The increased use of digital tools in daily life as well as changing needs of visitors has required cultural institutions to rethink their strategies in attracting visitors and creating engaging cultural experiences. This lecture will provide an overview of the field of cultural mediation and museum experience and highlight challenges in developing game-based approaches.

After the lecture we will explore the old town of Stein (close to the University) with a guided tour by Helma Strizik. Inspired by the impressions gained during the tour, we will then devote ourselves to possible play-based approaches to cultural mediation and create concepts in a speed prototyping session.


Alexander Preisinger

Alexander Preisinger works as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of History at the University of Vienna. He runs the GameLab in cooperation with Nintendo, which brings game-based learning to life (https://gamelab.univie.ac.at/).

Spiel Macht Politik

FROG 2022 – Workshop
(This workshop will be held in German language.)

Spiele sind vordergründig unpolitisch – doch unter der regelgeleiteten Oberfläche verstecken sich Werte, Stereotype und Handlungszwänge, die meist selbstverständlich vom Spielenden akzeptiert werden. Die Schattenseite der spielerischen Freiheit ist der Regelzwang, dem jedes Spiel unterliegt, und anders als in Demokratien sind die Regeln des Zusammenspielens im Spiel nicht verhandelbar.
Spielpolitik und Politik durch Spiele will dieser Workshop in vier Zusammenhänge ‚erlebbar‘ machen: Politik in, mit, durch und über Spiele. Er richtet sich an pädagogische Multiplikatoren, die selbst Spiele als Lehr- und Lernmittel einsetzen wollen. Spielförmige Lernarrangements werden dazu im Kurs ausprobiert und reflektiert.