Crisis Acres: Screening and Discussion with Tom K Kemp

Body

After the Single Use recently hosted a screening of 'Crisis Acres', a new film by artist Tom K Kemp, followed by a discussion exploring healthcare systems, crisis response, and the methods used to imagine alternative futures.

Kemp's work often examines complex systems, institutional structures, and processes of collective decision-making through speculative and participatory formats. The screening built on themes that have run throughout his practice. His previous film, 'Dead Minutes', brought together specialists in systemic change who found themselves attempting to reform the afterlife through meetings, analysis, and collective problem-solving. 'Crisis Acres' continues this interest in how institutions function under pressure, but turns its attention to a real life institution, namely the NHS and the infrastructures, assumptions, and forms of knowledge that shape healthcare systems.

The film centres on the activation of a megagame,  which was designed by Rob Graystone, a format that combines elements of roleplay, simulation, and strategic decision-making. After the screening, in a discussion with the artist, attendees reflected on the design of the game and the ways in which exercises and simulations can be used to test assumptions, explore communication between different actors, and reveal how knowledge is shared and acted upon within complex systems. 

Particularly striking was the involvement of participants with experience of working within the NHS. Their engagement with both the film and the game opened conversations about how healthcare systems are organised, how competing priorities are negotiated, and how institutional responses emerge through collaboration, uncertainty, and constraint. Together, the screening and discussion highlighted the value of creative methods for examining the structures that shape contemporary healthcare and imagining how they might operate differently in the future.