Knudepunkt

The Knutepunkt is an annual role-playing game conference held annually in the Nordic countries since 1997. It has been a vital institution in establishing a Nordic role-playing identity, and in establishing the concept of "Nordic larp" as a unique approach. Though the conference started out strictly as a Live action role-playing (''larp'' for short) event, it has since embraced role-playing games in a more general fashion. Today the conference still has an emphasis on larp, but programs devoted to traditional tabletop role-playing as well as newer arrivals such as freeform are common.

A live action role-playing avant-garde movement, which pursues radical experimentation and the recognition of role-playing as a form of art, has been connected to the Knutepunkt conferences. The scope of the Knutepunkt conference has expanded rather rapidly over the last few years with participants showing up from numerous non-Scandinavian countries. Since about 2003 Knutepunkt has seen participants from the United States, Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Russia, Estonia, Belarus, Belgium, the Netherlands, Israel, Czech Republic, United Kingdom and Austria, among others.

Name

''Knutepunkt'' is Norwegian for "meeting point" or "knot point" as it can be directly translated as, and locally the term is translated into Swedish ''Knutpunkt'', Danish ''Knudepunkt'' and Finnish ''Solmukohta''. The name of the convention refers to the point where two pieces of rope or string joins in a knot, and varies with the organizing country.

History

The organising country changes each year in this order: Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
*Knutepunkt 1997 Oslo, Norway
*Knutpunkt 1998 Stockholm, Sweden
*Knudepunkt 1999 Copenhagen, Denmark
*Solmukohta 2000 Helsinki, Finland
*Knutepunkt 2001 Oslo, Norway
*Knutpunkt 2002 Stockholm, Sweden
Knudepunkt 2003
Copenhagen, Denmark (Feb. 2003)
Solmukohta 2004
Espoo, Finland (Feb. 2004)
Knutepunkt 2005
Oslo, Norway (Feb. 2005)
Knutpunkt 2006
Barnens Ö (Children's Island), Sweden (Apr. 2006)
Knudepunkt 2007
Helsinge, Denmark. (Feb. 2007)
Solmukohta 2008
Nurmijärvi, Finland (Apr. 2008)
Knutepunkt 2009
Haraldvangen, Norway (16-19 Apr. 2009)
Knutpunkt 2010
Katrineholm, Sweden (Apr. 2010)
Knudepunkt 2011
Helsinge, Denmark. (Feb. 2011)
Solmukohta 2012
Nurmijärvi, Finland (Apr. 2012)
Knutepunkt 2013
Haraldvangen, Norway (Apr. 2013)
Knutpunkt 2014
Halland, Sweden (3-6 Apr 2014)
Knudepunkt 2015Knudepunkt village
( Midtfyns gymnasium, Ringe fri- og efterskole, Nordagerskolen, Midtfyns fritidscenter), Denmark (12-15 Feb. 2015)
Solmukohta 2016
Finland (9-14 Mar. 2016)
Knutepunkt 2017
Oslo, Norway (23-26 Feb. 2017)
Knutpunkt 2018
Lund, Sweden (15-18 Mar. 2018)
Knudepunkt 2019
Vejen, Denmark (8-11 Feb. 2019)
Solmukohta 2020
Tampere, Finland (2–5 Apr. 2020)
Knutepunkt 2021
Oslo, Norway (7-20 Oct. 2021)

Publications

Since 2001 the Knutepunkt conferences have been accompanied by books on larp theory,
with the exception of the 2002 conference in Stockholm.

*Anette Alfsvåg, Ingrid Storrø, Erlend Eidsem Hansen (eds.): ''The Book''. Knudepunkt 2001. no ISBN
*Morten Gade, Line Thorup & Mikkel Sander (eds.): ''As Larp Grows Up''. Knudepunkt 2003. . https://web.archive.org/web/20060718051716/http://www.laivforum.dk/kp03_book/
*Markus Montola & Jaakko Stenros (eds.): ''Beyond Role and Play''. Solmukohta 2004. . https://web.archive.org/web/20060615144314/http://www.ropecon.fi/brap/
*Petter Bøckman & Ragnhild Hutchison (eds.): ''Dissecting Larp''. Knutepunkt 2005. (print) (online) http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/kp05/
*Thorbiörn Fritzon & Tobias Wrigstad (eds.) : ''Role, Play, Art''. Knutpunkt 2006. . http://jeepen.org/kpbook/
*Jesper Donnis, Morten Gade & Line Thorup (eds.): ''Lifelike''. Knudepunkt 2007. . https://web.archive.org/web/20070314102705/http://www.liveforum.dk/kp07book/
*Jaakko Stenros & Markus Montola (eds.): ''Playground Worlds''. Solmukohta 2008. (print) (pdf) https://web.archive.org/web/20091221130755/http://www.ropecon.fi/pw/
*Matthijs Holter, Eirik Fatland & Even Tømte (eds.): ''Larp, the Universe and Everything''. Knutepunkt 2009. http://knutepunkt.laiv.org/2009/book/
* Larsson, Elge (ed.): ''Playing Reality''. Knutpunkt 2010 , Interacting Arts. (print) (pdf) https://web.archive.org/web/20110818143459/http://interactingarts.org/pdf/Playing%20Reality%20(2010).pdf
* Thomas Duus Henriksen, Christian Bierlich, Kasper Friis Hansen & Valdemar Kølle (eds.): ''Think Larp - Academic Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051237/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/think_larp_web.pdf
* Claus Raasted (ed.): ''Talk Larp - Provocative Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425051302/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/talk_larp_web.pdf
* Lars Andresen, Charles Bo Nielsen, Luisa Carbonelli, Jesper Heebøll-Christensen, Marie Oscilowski (eds.): ''Do Larp - Documentary Writings from KP2011''. Published by Rollespilsakademiet in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. https://web.archive.org/web/20110812230824/http://rollespilsakademiet.dk/kpbooks/do_larp_web.pdf
* Juhana Pettersson (ed.): ''States of Play: Nordic Larp Around the World''. Published by Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura in conjunction with the Solmukohta 2012 conference. / (PDF) http://www.nordicrpg.fi/julkaisut/states-of-play/
* Eleanor Saitta, Marie Holm-Andersen and Jon Back (ed.): “The Foundation Stone of Nordic Larp.” Published by Knutpunkt in conjunction with the Knutpunkt 2014 conference (Print)/ (PDF) http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/8/80/2014_The_Foundation_Stone_of_Nordic_Larp.pdf
* Jon Back (ed.): “Knutpunkt 2014: Sharpening the Cutting Edge.” Published by Knutpunkt in conjunction with the Knutpunkt 2014 conference (Print) / (PDF) http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/e/e8/2014_The_Cutting_Edge_of_Nordic_Larp.pdf
* Charles Bo Nielsen and Claus Raasted (ed.): “The Knudepunkt 2015 Companion Book.” Published by Rollespilsakademiet, Copenhagen, Denmark in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2015 conference http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/2/27/Kp2015companionbook.pdf
* Charles Bo Nielsen and Claus Raasted (ed.): “The Nordic Larp Yearbook 2014.” Published by Rollespilsakademiet, Copenhagen, Denmark in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2015 conference {{ISBN, 978-87-92507-23-5 http://nordiclarp.org/w/images/6/6d/Nordiclarpyearbook2014.pdf

Video documentation

In 2011 the Knutepunkt conference was documented i
a number of videos now published on the Knudepunkt 2011 Vimeo Channel

External links

Knutepunkt at the Nordic Larp Wiki

Gaming conventions
Live-action role-playing games