LOCATING PLAY IN CONTEMPORARY CULTURE & SOCIETY
We all have lost ourselves in play numerous times. We have built characters, played roles, created and inhabited worlds and constructed meanings within them. It has been over 70 years now, since Johan Huizinga wrote Homo Ludens where he described play as a fundamental element of culture. Following and being set against the notions of Homo Sapiens – the wise man- and Homo Faber -man the maker-, Homo Ludens -the playful man- highlighted a different vital perspective for the human society with play permeating its principal activities.
HOMO LUDENS LUDENS is an exhibition that looks into the expressions of play in the life and culture of our digital times and examines the formations of the contemporary magic circles. Focusing on play, rather than games, the exhibition sets a setting that embraces different forms of works who address, describe or critisize today’s play. Play is being reversed and reformed; being able to embody social and political acts and issues, it becomes a tool for critique and social change; connecting the virtual and the real, it brings new dimensions for social encounters; approaching other disciplines, it gives birth to new art and play forms; But at the same time, play is being exploited becoming a terrain for labour where the player is asked to be a creator or else a worker.
What are the opportunities and what are the risks that need to be balanced in such a context? The time come to examine the speculation of the emergence of a Homo Ludens Ludens. A contemporary player who would be more conscious (sapiens), creative (faber) and playful (ludens)…
Curators: Erich Berger, Chief Curator of LABoral Centro de Arte de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón
Laura Baigorri, independent curator, Barcelona
Daphne Dragona, new media art curator, Athens
@ LABoral Centro de Arte y creación Industrial 18.04.2008-22.09.2008
Artists: John Paul Richard, France Cadet, Derivart, Devart, Ge Jin, Vladan Joler, Radwan Kasmiya, John Klima, La Fiambrera Obrera & Mar de Niebla, Danny Ledonne, Valeriano López, Ludic Society , Brian Mackern, Larry Miller, MIT Lab – Drew Harry, Dietmar Offenhuber, Orkan Telhan, Molleindustria, Volker Morawe & Tilman Reiff, Julian Oliver, Hannah Perner-Wilson & Mika Satomi, Personal Cinema & the Erasers, Martin Pichlmair & Fares Kayali, Orna Portugaly, Daphna Talithman, Sharon Younger, Marcin Ramocki & Justin Strawhand, Rolando Sánchez, Alex Sanjurjo, Gordan Savicic, Silver & True, Axel Stockburger, Román Torre, David Valentine/MediaShed, William Wegman
Design: C+arquitectos, Nerea Calvillo
International Symposium
The International Symposium Homo Ludens Ludens, co-organised with the Planetary Collegium, aims through its two-day programme to situate the frame context of contemporary play, to highlight its interdisciplinary character and to present the multifaceted reality of the playful society we are living in. To achieve this, the Symposium forms a special setting for dialogue and experimentation where it brings together international experts from the field of game theory as well as artists and practitioners who embrace elements and signs of play and playfulness in their work and research activities. So, what is play today and what does it mean to be a player? The Symposium and Exhibition of the same name can be understood as an examination of play as a vital element in our everyday life, and as a speculation on the emergence of a Homo Ludens Ludens – the contemporary playful man.
Speakers: Roy Ascott, Laura Baigorri, Laura Beloff, Matteo Bittanti, José Luis de Vincente, Julian Dibbell, Daphne Dragona, Wolfgang Fiel, Gonzalo Frasca, Luis Miguel Girão, Margarete Jahrmann, David Mcconville, Guto Nóbrega, Julian Oliver, Paolo Pedercini, Martin Pichlmair, Anne Marie Schleiner, Mike Phillips, Martin Pichlmair, Michael Punt, Nicolas Reeves, Natacha Roussel, Anne-Marie Schleiner, Natasha Vita-More, Mackenzie Wark, Monika Weiss
@ LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial & Planetary Collegium
19-20.04.2008
Photos and videos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nearnearfuture/sets/72157604608252679/
(from We make money not art)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mentatkibernes/sets/72157605161060163/
(from Mentat Kiberness)
interview in We make money not art
