Jana Romanova

Meet Jana Romanova I’m a multidisciplinary artist working with games, performance, and photography. Through role-playing, social games, and various playful experiments, I research liminal spaces, (in)visible systems that shape us, and what agency, care, and ecological imagination might look like when we playtest other ways of living together.  I’m passionate about games, play, and playfulness as tools for creating meaningful connections. I design and facilitate live-action role-playing games in physical spaces as part of my art practice, and also teach playful approaches to artmaking at various academies and educational programs in the Netherlands. @janarom janaromanova.com Image credits: portrait by @anastasijakiake Studio by @janarom The Broken Archive by @janarom The Broken Archive role-playing game at Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss, Foto: Andreas König Dreamhouse at iii by @helenaroigg The Line is the Game at No Quarter by NYU Game Center 2025 by John Hwang

Documentation of “Better Troll”, a workshop and larp by @janarom on life as a worker in a troll factory Photos by @ira_gruen

Experience life as a troll factory worker this Saturday! Better Troll by Jana Romanova A dark comedy role-playing experience on the value of human labor in a post-human internet Date: 25.04.2026 Event time: 14:00 - 18:00 Location: iii workspace City: The Hague Better Troll is a dark comedy role-playing experience that immerses players in questions of influence, survival, and the value of human labor in a post-human internet. Participants play employees of the last human-run online reputation management agency—better known as a troll factory—struggling to prove their usefulness before being replaced by AI systems that are faster, cheaper, and disturbingly persuasive. More info via link in bio Production-supported by FTW Graphics by Elisa Piazzi

Happy to be part of this show (a show! on stage! not in the exhibition hall!) curated by Johan Idema with my very first project “Players” created in 2008! On Saturday 18 at 20.30 and Sunday 19 April 16.00, a brand new edition of De Grote Kunstshow will take place at Theater Bellevue, Amsterdam. You can book tickets via https://www.kunstshow.nl/, I’ll leave the link in bio. Don’t expect a standard exhibition, but a theatrical visual show where visual art bursts from the stage. In an hour and a half, you dive into the minds of new generations of artists trying to tame today’s capricious world. What can you expect? Here is a sneak preview: Actress Clara van Bragt performs a ‘night performance’ in The Departed Doubter by Emmie Liebregts. Poet Zoë Dankert explains why the world is on fire in the work of Ayşen Kaptanoğlu. Author Rashid Novaire brings the characters in Neo Matloga’s paintings to life in a glowing dialogue. Actress Clara van Bragt tries to hide behind Carmen Schabracq’s animal masks. And much more. With @koosbuster , @carmenschabracq @emmie_liebregts @neomatloga , @janarom @saarscheerlings @windlessroom @aysenkaptanoglu @claravanbragt @pruikenvuik @saravangennep @koencaris @rashidnovaire @kapiteinrenee @zoe.dankert

Better Troll by Jana Romanova A dark comedy role-playing experience on the value of human labor in a post-human internet Date: 25.04.2026 Event time: 14:00 - 18:00 Location: iii workspace City: The Hague Better Troll is a dark comedy role-playing experience that immerses players in questions of influence, survival, and the value of human labor in a post-human internet. Participants play employees of the last human-run online reputation management agency—better known as a troll factory—struggling to prove their usefulness before being replaced by AI systems that are faster, cheaper, and disturbingly persuasive. More info via link in bio Graphics by Elisa Piazzi

Thank you for joining us! On 14 March, the second public event of Permission to Dream took place in the heart of the Hague. In this playful role-playing experience, participants stepped into the roles of the Dreamers, collectively building a new world. This time starting from an unexpected point: a deserted parking lot in the centre of The Hague. What unfolded was a light yet thought-provoking exploration of co-creation, getting stuck, starting over, and imagining alternative ways of living together. An engaging afternoon! Parking Lot is the adaptation of a role-playing scenario created as a part of the Dreamwalk series, developed in 2025 with the support and production of Sickhouse, a playful cultural space in Enschede. All Dreamwalk experiences were played in liminal public places across Enschede in the Netherlands. This event is part of the public program Permission to Dream and is under Stroom Den Haag’s Program Line Networks of Embodiment. Photography: @studio_uittenbogaart #StroomDenHaag #Stroom #DreamWalk #PermissionToDream #PublicEvent #TheHague

On Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 April, I will be part of De Grote Kunstshow at Theater Bellevue, Amsterdam. In this one-and-a-half-hour visual performance, artworks are brought to life on the theater stage with actors, interviews, drama, and music. This edition presents artists whose work offers hopeful or surprising insights to confront the grim world of today. Don’t expect a standard exhibition, but a theatrical visual show where visual art bursts from the stage. Super curious! For info & tickets → kunstshow.nl I find it beautiful that for this edition of De Grote Kunstshow my very first photogrpahy project, “Players,” is included. Created in 2008, it centers on people playing games. I invited my friends, larpers, to arrive at their workplaces in their favorite costumes, embodying their most beloved characters. At the time, larping was still surrounded by strong preconceptions; media often framed it as something sect-like or as grown adults being childish. It enjoy seeing (and also being a tiny part of it, hopefully) how much better space adult play occupies now eighteen years after, and how it continues to emancipate itself. It feels very special to see this project return. Please come see it, alongside other great works presented on stage of De Grote Kunstshow.

Happy to share The Line is the Game is coming to Friday Late: Player/Performer at V&A @vamuseum in London on the 27th of March 2026. The Line Is the Game is a short, comedy live-action role-playing game that turns the everyday frustration of waiting into something playful and a little chaotic. Get your role from the ticket machine and join the line — possibly for a bathroom, possibly for something else. Complete your task and use your one-time superpower to change the line before the doors finally open. Tired of waiting? Step out, come back as someone new, and see whether how you wait is a more interesting story than what you’re waiting for. Many thanks to @eeee.ppppp (graphic design) and @pabgre (device artisan), to @tigershungry for the inspiration and connection, and @susepicious , @k_vo_yo and V&A team for making it possible. If you’re in London, join this amazing evening to see and play all fantastic works! And please please cross fingers and toes that my UK visa comes through so I can be there in person! @vamuseum #FridayLate photo by Mike Cook Game poster by @eeee.ppppp , videos from the run of the game at No Quarter 2025 @nyugamecenter

𝘾𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝘼𝙋𝙋𝙇𝙄𝘾𝘼𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉𝙎! [[alternative reality]] WEEK! is a one day game jam (21st March) followed by playtest session (29th March or later) designing playful experiences that combine game mechanics with the real world. No-tech, low-tech, or high-tech all welcome. Initiated by shanghai-based collective @rect_repair , this game jam taking place simultaneously in Tokyo, Taipei, Shanghai, The Hague, London, New York, and Mexico City. The Hague edition will be hosted by me 😉 “Wait, do you mean Augmented Reality (AR)? “ Nope! “Do you mean Alternate Reality Game (ARG)?” ..Well, kind of! Alternative, as in alternative games, alternative tech, alternative media, alternative infrastructure: another, perhaps more radical way of engaging with what’s already here. We’re inspired by practices including Alternate Reality Games, Pervasive Games, Urban Games, LARP, Immersive Theater, etc., but we’re not precious about genre. You are in an [[alternative reality]] game. You have been playing it your whole life. It has weather, people, rankings, transit systems of varying reliability… and no clear win condition. [[alternative reality]]: WEEK! takes this situation seriously, we want to welcome game creators and players across time-zones to make and play [[alternative reality]] games that spill out of the screen and into the IRL world. 🗓️ 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣? [[alternative reality]]: JAM! (gamejam) - 21st of March (Sat) 12.00-16.00 official part, and you are welcome to stay longer if things go positively wild [[alternative reality]]: PLAY! (playtesting) - 29th of March (Sun) times to be discussed 👀 𝙒𝙝𝙤? The in person gamejam event in The Hague branch will be open to up to 12 game makers and creatives interested in exploring alternative reality games. Whether or not you have experience in making games, we welcome anyone who is open-minded and committed to take part. 🔗 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙚? The link is in my bio 🙂 The application is open until the 16th March. ~ This project is funded by @morning.fyi and this great text is written by @studioplayfool who are hosting the jam in London

Sign up! On 14 March, the second public event of Permission to Dream will take place in an public space. In this role-playing experience, players take the roles of the Dreamers: beings who create worlds while dreaming. Your goal is to create a world that you all finally like and want to live in. But it doesn't always go smoothly. Usually, the Dreamers erase the universe they have created to start over from scratch. This time, a strange mistake has occurred: the process got stuck, and everything has disappeared except for a random parking lot in the city center of Den Haag. This light and playful role-playing game explores collective world-building and challenges of co-creation, the stubborn presence of the mundane, and how (and if) we can imagine alternative lives and societies. Parking Lot is the adaptation of a role-playing scenario created as a part of the Dreamwalk series, developed in 2025 with the support and production of Sickhouse, a playful cultural space in Enschede. All Dreamwalk experiences were played in liminal public places across Enschede in the Netherlands. Get your tickets now via our link in bio. This event is part of the public program Permission to Dream and is under Stroom Den Haag’s Program Line Networks of Embodiment. Design @mary_universe #StroomDenHaag #Stroom #DreamWalk #PermissionToDream #PublicEvent #TheHague

Join us on Tuesday 20th of January at @zefirzeven @stroom_den_haag ! We are excited to announce the first edition of Zefir7 in 2026, centered on the theme of role play as an art and design practice, by Jana Romanova. Jana Romanova @janarom is a multidisciplinary artist working with games, performance, and photography. Through games, live-action role-playing (LARP), and other designed participatory scenarios, she researches liminal spaces, invisible social systems, and questions of agency and care, using play as a method for testing alternative ways of living together. In the next edition of zefir7, she will present a two-part lecture. The first part introduces role play as a participatory artistic and research method. Focusing on live-action role-playing, it looks at embodied, improvised scenarios in which participants inhabit roles and collectively generate narratives within carefully designed situations. The lecture outlines historical contexts and discusses contemporary art projects that use role play, designed situations, and collective storytelling to explore forms of experience that emerge through collective play. The second part moves into Jana’s own practice. She will share a few recent projects and invite the audience to try out tiny moments of play together. Free entrance Come by! Tuesday, 20 january 2026 Location: Stroom Den Haag, Hogewal 1, The Hague 7.30 PM: Doors open 8 PM: Start of the program BNO members get a free drink We hope to see you there Organized by Zefir7, Stroom Den Haag, BNO @zefirzeven @bno.nl  @stroom_den_haag Visual by @studiorenateboere

Here we are ! D-7 before the opening of 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 💜 – Hades invites you to his Death Café † – Jennifer Merlyn Scherler (CH) 21.12 | from 13h A Death Café inspired by Tokyo’s Maid cafés, hosted by Hades — a recurring, tender transmasc villain in the artist’s universe. Between desserts, lip-sync and intimate conversations, the performance turns mourning into a shared, touching and slightly uncanny encounter between kawaii and the macabre. with performance assistance by @aninacmueller – Entrainment Protocol 00100 – Andrea Khôra (UK) 14.12 | 12h + 15h A first round of volunteer testing for a research protocol on cognition, sensory perception and altered states. A clinical yet speculative experience exploring how consciousness can be shifted through controlled stimulation. ⚠ Includes stroboscopic light patterns. – Untitled – Sveta Mordovskaya (CH) Found objects, recycled materials and images from the artist’s personal archive become biomorphic installations. Domestic kitsch meets pop eeriness, revealing the traces of memory, desire and disappointment embedded in consumer objects. Enlarged photographs extend this logic, transforming private moments into hybrid artworks where identity loops and reshapes itself. – Better Trolls – Jana Romanova (CH) 13.12 | 15h A dark comedic LARP in which players embody employees of the last human-run online influence agency — fighting to stay relevant before AI bots replace them. Office politics, emotional pressure and ethical dilemmas unfold in a world where engagement is the most valuable currency. GD - Elisa Piazzi 👁️‍🗨️ Reserve your LARP spot: [email protected] 📍 Le Commun, Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers 10, 1205 Genève