CONNECTING CHILDHOOD & MAKE BELIEVE

The Creative Space of Play

Please see the official web site for photos and more info

Childhood2

Childhood11

http://www.biennalen.dk/en/project/the-choice-of-change/http://www.biennalen.dk/en/project/connecting-childhood/

Inspired by different stages in childhood, where play becomes a way of understanding and subsequently leads to the discovery of the self, we aim to explore how children’s play can serve as a connection between the inner world and the external reality. We use Donald Winnicott´s ideas on Playing and Reality, to reconstruct two stages of ´Potential Space´.One of the elements Winnicott considered was to be lost in childhood, he called this the sense of being – referring to a primary element, of which a sense of doing is only a derivative. The capacity for being – the ability to feel genuinely alive inside, which Winnicott saw as essential to the maintenance of a true self – was fostered in his view by the practice of childhood play.Through our intuitive approach we search to connect and relate our inner child to the outer world in order to make sense between the dialects of fantasy and reality.

1. CONNECTING CHILDHOOD

“Connecting Childhood” is an exploration into the world of play. It is the first stage of stepping out of our daily comfort zone and collaborate on a project with a shared goal of having fun, inspire, searching and provoking each other?The project shed light upon how two different artists respectively navigate between known and unknown materials – between order and chaos. Furthermore, “Connecting Childhood” suggests that a playful approach helps the artists to frame their creative process, and visualizes how ‘the inner child’ vehicle well-established artists into new fields of making.“Connecting Childhood” was initiated when we met for a three-day workshop, each bringing one suitcase of “our own” materials. The concept was to explore how interlocked rings of PVC and porcelain could be transformed into a spatial installation. The result of the workshop consists of more than 2000 knots and rings, which creates an installation in the dimensions of 120 x 750 cm. Where the porcelain are kept in naturel white, the PVC rings come in all colours. The connections between the different materials are linked to their properties of opposites; between softness and hardness; land made and manmade. The flow of colours is initially chaotic and, as the art piece progresses, it turns out to be more and more controlled.The aim is made visible, as it creates a pattern: From being unrestricted with no sense of direction, to systematically putting things into order.

2. Make Believe

In “Make Believe” we explored the consequences of completely changing the structure and location of “Connecting Childhood” in order to imitate something real. Here we questioned the reality of fantasy and the state of mind you enter through imagination.It turned out to be represented by torches in a white castle.Through intuitive approach we deconstruct and reconstruct as a research method into the connection between the inner child´s repetitive play and the outer world. Aiming to make sense of the dialects between fantasy and reality.Children use this intermediate area, between internal and external reality, to initiate their creative relationship with the world, to connect and grow. In this case we have used this space to dream.We aim to bring focus to the value of poetic reverie and the collective symbol formation, which is always present in both play and the creative process.This piece also represents the chaos, as the counterpart to order. We picture these 11 “Make Believe” torches in a white castle to be randomly attached and suspended from the ceiling.The fabric rings and ceramic knots are here seen ad the stage where the dialectical process moves towards integration, but integration is never complete; each integration creates a new dialectical opposition and a new dynamic tension. Where memories echoes and weaves through every moment, influenced by a natural rhythm of growth.

( se more photos here )By Annemette Beck & Mette Maya Gregersen

This is together with "STRUCTUREL RELATIONS" selected to.The Danish Biennale of Art and DesignCopenhagenOpening 31th of July 2015