Play art

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PLAY ART is a new art form that calls for active participation of the viewer. Only through interaction does Play Art disclose its secrets and inherent principles. It is the intention of Play Artists that their work be touched, influenced, and experienced; these are works that demand to be manipulated, rearranged, or set into motion. Some Play Artists focus on shapes and structures, others rely on scientific techniques like mechanical principles, physics or digital technology.

In 1984, Hans Theodor Flemming (art historian) characterized the philosophical underpinnings of this art form: The key in all cases is that the play principle is elevated to the level of art, where it can change prevailing attitudes towards play and provide new access to creativity: Captivated with the moveable and variable objects the viewer – or rather, the user – assumes an active role and experiences the creative process first-hand. This playful approach leads to the joy of unexpected discoveries, sparking the user’s curiosity to find still further variations. (Source: PLAY ART AND CREATIVITY by Ernst Lurker, published by Bayer AG, Germany, E 269-865/840 193.)

There are two schools of thought in naming this art form that involves audience participation. This has led to a certain [1] classification dispute. One group prefers the term “play art”, the other “interactive art”. The avoidance of the term play is based on the prevailing negative attitudes about that activity. It is frequently evaluated as being infantile, trivial, and frivolous; therefore it is deemed not respectable enough to be a subject of art.

The other side of this position is based on the realization of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga that:
Culture arises and unfolds in and as play,…
Culture itself bears the character of play.
Homo Ludens (1938)
(Citation) (Source: HOMO LUDENS, A Study of the Play Element in Culture, by Johan Huizinga (1938), English translation by Beacon Press, 1955, in the foreword, no page number, ISBN 0-807-04681-X)

This book was the seminal text for the academic field of play studies and play research; however, all this material has not penetrated into the awareness of the general population.

In addition, Albert Einstein maintains:
Combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.
(Citation) (Source: The International Handbook on Innovation - Page 26, by By Larisa V. Shavinina, published 2003 Elsevier ISBN 0-080-44198-X.)

If all of culture and science are based on various forms of play, it behooves us to reexamine our negative attitudes towards this subject. Unfortunately, we are still very much victims of a culture that stigmatized play, a leftover of the stern times of the Puritans for whom play was a waste of time and even sinful.
Play art promises to liberate us from such outmoded misconceptions, as art has previously enabled us to enjoy portraits, still lifes, and landscapes that were all still taboo in the Middle Ages when religious subjects were the only permissible ones. This process is part of the secularization of art.

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