Nam June Paik Art Center holds Monthly Pingpong on the second Wednesday of every month. Monthly Pingpong is an accompanying program of Open Codes. Networked Commons, and it is part of Play, the work of participating artist BNAG. In this program, a table tennis tournament is held after an exhibition tour with a curator. The winner can be awarded art goods of Nam June Paik Art Center or an exhibition catalog. In Monthly Pingpong, players can participate in the game by hacking the “codes” commonly used in table tennis games and creating new rules.

BNAG, PLAY (2016/2021)
PLAY is simply a table tennis table. Its colors and surfaces, however, personify the framework of table tennis as a sociocultural phenomenon: two sides competing against one another in a game. The abstraction of the traditional table markings through colored surfaces expands the game’s possibilities to include improvisation. The table demands that the familiar game be conceived differently, that players act creatively and react spontaneously. At the same time, PLAY complies with the requirements of DIN EN 14468, making it possible to play at a competitive level.
It is already an established trend among software developer companies to offer perks to their employs. Various leisure activities are offered in the office environments, often decorated with plants and gaudy furniture. One of these perks is table tennis. The aim of these investments is to blur the boundaries between private life and working hours. The project was created in collaboration with Louis Kohlmann (Projektraum LOTTE – Land of the Temporary Eternity, Stuttgart).
BNAG is a Karlsruhe / Marrakesh based design studio run by Oliver-Selim Boualam and Lukas Marstaller.
https://www.bnag.cc/