Something can be more than one thing

On Tuesday 22nd February, I shared pizza and stories about play and joy on the streets, with 10 young people and staff at Brittania Village Hall. We looked at proposals for the new playable landscape and the young people raised a few interesting questions, including:

Isn’t it too near the road? What use is a 200 mm mound? What is an art feature?

Some people were unsure about what you might do in a Multi Use Games Area, and others explained that multiple means various, so you can make up your own rules, play in teams or on your own.

Following through this idea we looked at the idea of free play, ambiguity and optical illusions where something can be more than one thing … including a duck/rabbit illusion, anamorphic drawings in 3 dimensions and artworks by Banksy.

To test the idea that ‘something can be more than one thing’ and encourage playful actions we took 5 rolls of sticky tape outdoors to the roadside. The young people made a temporary ambiguous drawing that changed shape and use, becoming a pathway, a volleyball net, a limbo dance space and a human catapult, until the materials ran out. The empty spools were adapted as wheels to roll across the pavement and discs to throw across the road. Someone was trussed up (voluntarily!) and the drawing was revised several times before being recycled as 3 balls.

The young peoples’ ideas will be adapted, scaled up and tested under the DLR line near West Silvertown station on Sunday 20^th March.

Some kind of game found at London City Airport …

Some kind of game found at London City Airport on Tuesday 13th February

Zebra and Hoopla

Ashley and Lottie are intrigued and inspired by the way people have playfully responded to these two lamp posts along the DLR line. 'Zebra' near West Silvertown and 'Hoopla' opposite London City Airport.