The Fandango Foundry_ 13_02_2010

1. Consequence Creatures
We began the session with drawing 'consequences creatures', using the format of the game 'Consequences' in order to create hybrid monsters amalgated from bits of other animals. We gave them new names made from the names of the monster's constituent animals (e.g. alien + pig = alig).

2. Discussion & Intro
In order to understand how we could make a Fandango, we talked about hybrid animals, nonsense poetry and looked at objects & buildings that are made from other objects & buildings.


3. Fandango Collages:
Next, we did a tour of the ICA and the children took polaroid photos of objects, surfaces quirks and details of what they were interested in. We then made collages in order to hybridise their ideas into 'Fandangos' (Please read earlier blog entry to find explanation for the workshop and what a Fandango is...)




4. The Fandangos!
From their collages, the children then went on to spatialise their ideas through making Fandangos.

My Fandango...

My 'fandango' is a hybrid architectural object, inspired by found elements of the ICA. It is a fantasy amalgam made for the ICA's front desk, conceived as a combined desk tidy & a mug heater (for keeping tea warm). It also includes a 'pipe mic' for PLAYWORKS announcements, paperclip store, a 'stove' that slides out (with a pseudo-extract) and is placed on a plinth constructed out of a bad romance novel.

Much like nonsense poetry, it ‘looks like it works’ but it doesn’t quite... it is an object of fun.

An earlier iteration.

Just stumbled across this wonderful project by Readymade Projects, Mogollon and Daniel Hakansson....

New York designer Stephen Burks of Readymade Projects has collaborated with art directors Monica Brand and Francisco Lopez of Mogollon, and photographer Daniel Hakansson to create a limited edition of posters depicting hybrid creatures.

It is called The Hybrid Project, the images feature assemblages of found objects that have been photographed and collaged together.

Here’s some information from Readymade Projects:

"The Hybrid Project

What is a Hybrid? In a word, it’s a mix, a mongrel, a collaboration and a contradiction. It’s an impossible juxtaposition of cultures, beings and objects. It’s the moment, the blur, the hapa, the half-breed – erasing borders, combining forces, re-thinking our mission on the planet.

Stephen Burks of Readymade Projects came back to Brooklyn after working trips to Africa, India and Europe and discovered that globalization was right at home in his studio – from the trinkets and handicrafts he brought back, to the objects he’s collected on his travels and his own prototypes. Hybrid is more than a buzzword, it’s the remix and the layers of culture that influence us today and that will continue to inform our future on the planet.

The Hybrid project was conceived as a collaboration amongst Burks, art directors Monica Brand and Francisco Lopez of Mogollon and photographer Daniel Hakansson as an ongoing exploration and illustration of cross-disciplinary process, cross-breeding of projects and the cross-pollination of ideas.

The first collaboration of the project is a series of colorful assemblages – anthropomorphic creatures of uncertain origin who have a life of their own – a Hanuman astride an African basket with lightbulb legs and a wiry protective cage, a vase with powerful arms of beads wrapped around its chest, clips attached to its frame. From there, the “monsters” – as so many half-breeds are called – were photographed and collaged and given graphic treatments creating posters that are works of art on their own.

The tangible result? A limited edition of offset printed and silk screened posters to be sold exclusively on the upcoming Readymade Products website Declare your unity with pluralism. Be one with diversity. Are you a hybrid?"

http://www.readymadeprojects.com/

This project has made me think that using an 'animal' or living thing to express ideas may be a good concept for the PLAYWORKS workshop. The children may find it easier to create ICA 'monsters' or characters, that are borne out of the building and its paraphernalia. That perhaps expecting children to make hybrid 'objects' with hybrid functions is a step too far for 5-11 years olds? Need to work on this one.

Planning the next PLAYWORKS workshop...

The Fandango Foundry

13_02_2010

>> Inspired by the British tradition of amphigouri and literary nonsense, we will conduct a tour of the ICA, looking for quirks, details and curious objects in & around Carlton Terrace. Following this we will temporarily transform the Fox Reading Room into a Fandango ‘foundry’, where we will concoct PLAYWORKS ‘Fandangos’- miniature nonsense objects that tell tall tales about the building.

These images depict an inspiration behind this workshop- London Design Committee’s ‘Plastic Fandangos’, conceived as non-sense products; visions of quotidian items from a parallel universe that parody and expose the oddness of our own familiar gadgets. I am interested in how they have coalesced and juxtaposed manufacturing techniques in order to learn about the materials themselves, but also to create curious beautiful objects.

Domestic Viewfinder, 2008

Plastic fire alarm base, plumbing fixing, pink toy rolling pin, dolls’ house window, cork knob, resin peg,wind-up mechanism.

The ICA has become an architectural palimpsest as a result of its continual and fragmentary refurbishment. In response we will be making our own hybrid 'thingymajigs', using the paraphernalia of old and new objects, surfaces, spaces and functions of the ICA as our palette.

We can either re-imagine and hybridise real uses or things we have found, or create a new fantasy amalgam. We will use our imagination as well as factual reference for inspiration.

By making critical selections about what intrigues them and interpreting that information into new objects, children (and myself) will ba able see the building and its spaces, surfaces and functions in a new light. The intention is to discover how 'architectural objects' can inform new architectures.

Once our nonsensical hybrid objects are made, they will be used as centre pieces in the cafe for the rest of the day, causing curiosity and bewilderment amongst customers... and thus stir intrigue about PLAYWORKS among those who discover them.

Fandango: n.

1. A lively Spanish dance for two people, typically accompanied by castanets or tambourine.
2. A foolish or useless act or thing

Brendan Lee Tang describes himself "playing with looking at how history is really malleable and how it can really shift. We almost think that history is this kind of static story that's unchanging, but it's not.”

In his Manga Ormolu series Tang enters the dialogue on contemporary culture, technology and globalization through a fabricated relationship between ceramic tradition (using the form of Chinese Ming dynasty vessels) and techno-Pop Art. The futuristic update of the Ming vessels in this series recalls 18th century French gilded ormolu, where historic Chinese vessels were transformed into curiosity pieces for aristocrats.

Playful language
Nonsense Verse & Wordplay

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Jabberwocky
Lewis Carroll

Technically termed amphigouri, ‘Nonsense verse’ is the poetic form of literary nonsense, normally composed for humorous effect, which is intentionally and overtly paradoxical, silly, witty, whimsical or otherwise strange. It is particularly common in English, due to the typically absurdist streak in British humour. It is playful in its disregard for conventional use of language, and spawns a new ‘nonsensical’ lexicon of its own with new meanings and associations.

Tove noun.

A combination of a badger, a lizard, and a corkscrew. They are very curious looking creatures which make their nests under sundials and eat only cheese.

The Institute of Play:
An Architecture of Play & Playfulness

Lobster Telephone

Salvador Dali, 1936

Herbert Read, one of the founders of the ICA, has said in 1947

"Such is our ideal- not another museum, another bleak exhibition gallery, another classical building in which insulated and classified specimens for a culture are displayed for instruction, but an adult play centre, a workshop where work is joy, a source of vitality and daring experiment."

In response to my own definition of play I propose my final Diploma project to be a conceptual refurbishment of the current ICA and Carlton House Terrace as it was originally conceived, a 'Playground for the Arts'... a multivalent facility for cultural activities, art and leisure: a play centre for everyone. Thus it will be a new proposition which houses, provokes and embodies the literal and phenomenal characteristics play & playfulness in both its architecture and inception.

"An activity is play if it is fully absorbing, includes elements of uncertainty, involves a sense of illusion or exaggeration, but most importantly, true play has to exist outside of ordinary life. Play’s purpose is to generate more possibilities for play."

Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: The Playing Man

The new 'Institute of Play' will be a place to play but will also be generated through playing. For example I will play 'consultation games' with visitors and staff through PLAYWORKS, but also the site and existing building will become 'objects of play' making the my project a 'product of play' in itself.

buildingPLAY


Drawing the building boundary together

PLAYWORKS: 'Building Play'

When I was little I found nothing more exciting than pushing the furniture together and creating networks of dens in the living room with duvets, sheets, boxes and whatever I could get my hands on. I conceived the ‘building’ workshop, giving children the chance to share the excitement of building and making whilst playing communally and on a scale that is not possible at home. The workshop is based on the idea of building at 1:1 and using one’s imagination to appropriate everyday objects and materials to create transient imaginary environments.

'Play Trestles'



I developed the idea of the 'play trestles' to be used in place of furniture, providing a ready made spatial framework to actuate the building process. They are also moveable and demountable, making them easy to assemble and take apart before and after the workshop.

Play Trestle Prototype

I made a prototype of a 'play trestle' for my crit, but also to be looked at by the Health and Safety Officer at ICA, Lee Curran.

PLAYWORKS: 'Building play"

You and your family are invited to the ICA on Saturday 9th January 2010 by PLAYWORKS, where children can try out their ideas by constructing a full-scale playscape of dens and playthings in the ICA theatre. Then together we can test it, play on it and hide in it...

PLAYWORKS is a series of free family workshops where children can invent their own environments for play. Together with architectural designer Erin Byrne, student at the Bartlett School of Architecture, participants will be able to draw and build on their own creations.

The event is FREE but please call the Box office to reserve your place 020 7930 3647. Places are limited so please reserve yours soon!

Details can be found on the website:

http://www.ica.org.uk/Playworks+23063.twl


Please join our mailing list by emailing your details to playworks@ica.org.uk, as we will be hosting many similar free children's events throughout 2010!

PLAYWORKS: 'Drawing play'

Workshops took place 28 & 29 November 2009

E- flyer!

Introducing PLAYWORKS

This week the ICA asked me to put together some text and an image for their website to advertise the programme of workshops I am holding there. The programme will be called "PLAYWORKS", of which first workshops series will be called "Play, Invent & BUILD".

This is it:


28 - 29 Nov 2009, 9 Jan 2010

Playworks is a series of free family workshops at the ICA where children can invent their own environments for play. Together with architectural designer Erin Byrne, student at the Bartlett School of Architecture, participants will be able to draw and build on their own creations.

The initial series of family workshops is called " Play, Invent & build". The first of which will take place on Saturday 28 & Sunday 29 November 2009. Children will be able to explore and experiment with their ideas about places for play - both real and imagined.

In the final workshop on Saturday 9 January 2010, children will try out their ideas by constructing a full-scale playscape of dens and playthings in the ICA Theatre. Then together we can test it, play on it and hide in it...

Suitable for children aged 5-11 years, accompanied by an adult.

Free

Please call the box office on 020 7930 3647 to reserve your tickets.

_______________

"PLAYWORKS" programme

I decided to come up with a title for the 'brand' or enterprise behind my family workshops programme. I wanted it to give the impression that the workshops would provide a sort of 'lab for making and playing'. I wanted to evoke the idea that Fox Reading Room would temporarily transformed into a facility for exploring ideas that have arisen during his project, but also for generating new ideas.

The workshops will provide a forum for children to externalise their own ideas through 'making' and visual processes (drawing, modelling & building). 'Invention' and 'experimentation' were the key themes I wanted to capture, as the programme is speculative and serendipitous.

Thus, I came up with the name PLAYWORKS for the overall workshop series, so that it sounds almost like a factory or facility. 'Works' was supposed to give the feeling of 'work in progress' or production/ industry- that we all will be working together for a shared goal.

"Play, Invent & Build" workshop series

I also thought on the day we could call the Fox Reading Room the 'PLAYWORKS Shop' as a pun on the word workshop, but also suggesting that 'PLAYWORKS' is a larger entity and that the 'Play, Invent & Build" workshops are a franchise of it.

The name of the I wanted to highlight the word BUILD because that is one of the unique characteristics of the workshop, that we will be testing our ideas at real scale. I used a yellow background so it will jump out against the other family workshops on the website.

Fun feedback!

Vicky, Evi and I also discussed 'evaluation' and measurable outcomes in research projects and working with children. I asked what the ICA protocol was for gathering feedback for their children's workshops. They said that they hadn't developed a system yet because they thought 'tick box sheets' had limited value for children and were difficult to implement.

I suggested that I would like to develop some kind of written or drawn 'fun feedback', that would be integrated into each session and could perhaps be developed into a model for other ICA Learning workshops.

PLAYWORKS: a speculative research project

I had a meeting on Friday with Vicky and Evi who work in the Learning department at the ICA. We discussed the idea of 'free play' and how the most rewarding children's activites have a very simple concept that sows the seed of an idea, allowing the children find their own answers. We also talked about how sometimes a strong pedagogical agenda and desire for 'measurable outcomes' can stifle fun and learning. Also that relinquishing a desire to 'stick to the original plan' can be very rewarding when working with children.

We discussed the influence of this approach on my attitude toward this project, which I view as 'speculative'. By hosting it in a gallery, I am aligning the project with Fine Art. I think art provides fascinating alternative models for the design or research process based on the speculative interplay of ideas and objects, with a more open minded approach to serendipitous outcomes (influenced by the notion of 'free play'), and less of an emphasis on a proscribed agenda (such as the need for a 'new building' or 'manual') which is often found in architectural research.


Coinciding with the PLAYWORKS Shops, the ICA is hosting an exhibition by acclaimed international group exhibition "For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there" which starts from the premise that confusion lies at the heart of wisdom, and aims to celebrate the speculative nature of knowledge, through artworks which imply that curiosity matters more than understanding. Arranged around the premise that the world--and art--is not a code that needs cracking, the works in the exhibition center on the fruitfulness of not-knowing, un-learning, and productive confusion.

"A mathematician is like a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t there."

Attributed to Charles Darwin

Street Play

The rise of the use of motorised vehicles and increase in parental anxiety has made the cityscape more adult centric, and less friendly for children to play than it has been for previous generations.

Street training

At the Glasshouse Young Spacemaker Workshop, I met Lottie Child. She devises urban explorations and produces guides for active engagement with urban places exchanging expertise and knowledge on the notions of freedom of movement and anti social behavior, in increasingly sanitized and controlled urban places.

"Street Training develops your own proactive strategies around inhabiting urban streets."

Urban exploration involves Research and Intervention:
Research is wandering, talking, looking, thinking, and Intervention might include talking to strangers, drumming on street furniture, climbing trees, visiting people, being asked to leave shops, lighting a fire, sitting around, tracing magic symbols on the ground, looking out for the dog with one eye, kissing, foraging for fallen fruits, listening to the sounds of the night, shouting and smelling flowers.

Visit www.malinky.org

The Glasshouse Young Spacemaker Workshop

During my research up until now, it seems the link between relational art practice and spatial production is often neglected. This suggests that form making and proposition is the specialist job of the architect and it is therefore the architect’s role to ‘interpret’ the intentions of the community. This perhaps underlines the key difference between consultation and participation.

This week I looked at people and organisations who are finding ways that end users can have a participatory role in the design process. The Glasshouse Young Spacemaker Workshop challenges this by attempting to furnish young people with design skills so they can have a more tangible contributory role to the design process.

One of the exercises at the workshop was about relinquishing the temptation to reject compromise and input from other people during the design process. In our group we were each given a word and a baseboard. We were asked to make 5 minute model about the word and then pass it to the person next to us so they can work on it, then the next person, until the model is returned back to you. Finally, you present/describe the model to the group.

our team:

The word I was given was, coincidentally, ‘play’. I cut the board into four and made four ‘play patches’, rectangles of different materials ‘grass’, ‘concrete’, ‘a rug’ and ‘water’. When the model came back to me the ‘patches’ had been constructed into two dens nestled in a hill with a climbable structure around it, and the whole model was covered in graffiti. The ‘patches’ (a last minute idea) had serendipitously provided a palette of materials that allowed people to construct their own idea of play, which was then personalised through construction and graffiti. Our co- authorship had fortuitously created a temporal, flexible, and (most importantly) personalisable landscape for play.



By building ‘incompleteness’ into the design, the final model had coalesced all our ideas, providing an unforeseen insight into how one could ultimately design for play in the real world.

Risky Play

A major study by Play England, part of the National Children's Bureau, found that half of all children have been stopped from climbing trees, 21 per cent have been banned from playing conkers and 17 per cent have been told they cannot take part in games of tag or chase. Some parents are going to such extreme lengths to protect their children from danger that they have even said no to hide-and-seek.

"Children are not being allowed many of the freedoms that were taken for granted when we were children. They are not enjoying the opportunities to play outside that most people would have thought of as normal when they were growing up."

Adrian Voce, director of Play England

Play England is determined to spread the message that children ought to be taking risks and that it is 'not the end of the world if a child has an accident'.

Architecture for play?

Last week I put together a research proposal suggesting that a ‘playscape’ was a physical and tangible setting for play (that could be designed by an architect).

Further investigation this week has forced me to redefine the notion of ‘playscape’ as a ‘temporal network of relationships between people, objects and places’. This is because although architecture can provide a ‘space to play’, children also need infrastructure in order to have ‘time to play’.


Objects and spaces only become ‘playscapes’ when they are animated by play. An architect can create a beautiful playground but if no one plays in it (for whatever reason) it can not be termed a ‘playscape’. Moreover, the subversive character of play makes it very hard to design for and anticipate, and thus architects and the built environment only play a partial (but interesting) role in facilitating play and the consequent creation ‘playscapes’.

It is my objective this year to explore the role that architects and the built environment has in the creation of ‘playscapes’ and what this reveals about how can we create ‘successful’ architecture that is ‘used’ and contributes to the community.

For the first part of year I will look at the pedagogic workshop or temporary playscape as a forum for exploring children’s attitudes to the construction of space, the benefits of haptic/ constructive play and to propose ‘playing’ or ‘playfulness’ as a model for the design process.