Running up to the Olympics, our theme is concerned with ideas around Play. Play can be an important element of a creative working process. Although a fundamental part of human development, it is sometimes portrayed as not to be taken seriously; the opposite of work. Play arguably pre-dates culture if we consider that animals play.
Play implies room for manoeuvre; if an object has play in it, it has ‘give’ and movement. As an interdisciplinary Institute, ICIA allows space in which different art-forms and disciplines meet, interact and experiment.
Spring 2011 saw sound artist, musician and composer Janek Schaefer in residence exploring the University’s Sports Training Village. Meanwhile artist-in-residence Tom Marshman mischievously collaborated with students and staff from a range of disciplines and backgrounds to ‘celebrate the everyday’.
The unpredictable, unnerving or subversive potential of play can be found in the work of contemporary artists. Multi-disciplinary group Class Wargames’ exhibition explored gaming as a metaphor for social relations and revolution. Luca Silvestrini’s Protein used their provocative wit and profound dance-theatre to investigate the massive impact of the internet on individual lives and society in general. Meanwhile performance artist Bryony Kimmings gave us a humorous, honest and candid account of female sexuality in the 21st Century.
Listing of events in the spring 2011 season themed – set in play…