The Mechanical Games are a crowdsourced
version of the Olympic Games, where anyone can perform an athletic
event and everyone votes for gold medal winners. This 2010 collaboration with Cornerhouse for the Abandon Normal Devices festival is based on The 2008 Mechanical Olympics.
Mechanical Games invites participants to create and contribute a thirty-second film of their selves performing one of five sports: weight lifting, swimming, hockey, fencing, or volleyball. Films are funny, clever or even literal interpretations of sporting events to be put to the vote for a gold medal.
During the Abandon Normal Devices (AND) festival, MechanicalGames.co.uk hosted daily polls where viewers voted on YouTube videos of athletic performances made by members of the community in Manchester, UK and workers from the Amazon.com Mechanical Turk website. Winners of each poll received a bonus payment through the Mturk.com website or a gold medal at the AND festival awards ceremony. This project is funded by The National Lottery through Big Lottery Fund.
