PLAY BEYOND PLAYGROUNDS

SYMPOSIUM THEMES

Our objective is to bring together a range of cross-disciplinary experts - artists, urban planners, landscape architects, curators, council representatives and academics to address the following questions:

1. What are the physical and cultural conditions of site that coax play in the public realm?

• How do the material conditions of a public space enable or prohibit play?  

• In what ways do social conventions influence our ability to play in the public realm? 

• In public space, what is ‘play’ and who is playing?  

2. Why do we need more opportunities for play in order to create better future-cities? (How can play today impact public life tomorrow?) 

• What is the subversive potential of play in public life? What kinds of civic agency does it create for individuals and communities? 

• What is the importance of play for children, and how can it prepare them for a future we cannot envision? 

3. How can the unique contribution of contemporary public art address these core concerns? How can we better facilitate these contributions through interdisciplinary collaborations?  

• What methods enable meaningful and successful collaboration between artists and the disciplines that shape the public realm, without diminishing the significance of either field of knowledge? 

• How can we bring artists into the planning of public spaces? 

• How can we establish a critical framework for evaluating public art projects, that situates them within broader contemporary art dialogues? How can we use this to enhance the cultural value and critical discourse surrounding public art projects?

4. How do we bring children into the design process of public spaces, and how can art facilitate this process?