Play Rebellion

BALTIC Centre For Contemporary Art

October 2019

—February 2022

Temporary

Various polyethylene 2D and 3D shapes

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Play Rebellion is an interactive exhibition where audiences are invited to become active participants and get physical with the artwork, to reconnect with our inner creative geniuses* and generate new possibilities.

For too long our creativity has been drained out of us by an outdated education system that no longer prepares us for contemporary life. If human kind is to survive and thrive in this work of rapid change and technological advancement, we need to take back control of our creative lives, to reawaken our inner child and have some fun!

Play Rebellion invites people of all ages, not just children, to come together through play. Take some time out to reconfigure the world, to make spaces to play, to reflect, to challenge, to relax and to talk.

Play Rebellion presents PlayShapes: sixteen 1m cubes which break down into steps, triangles, polygons, rectangular prisms and cylinders. These can be refigured into limitless combinations to create sculptures, playscapes, games or chill our spaces.

The exhibition is accompanied by Playing Up, a series of events with geographers, architects, school kids, business people, philosophers and other artists to explore play and its role in place, relationships and disruption. Many of these have been filmed and are available to watch on Baltic’s digital archive Baltic Plus.

You can read more about the inspiration behind Play Rebellion on my blog plus how Baltic are leading the way in their approach to commissioning projects about play on Louisa Penfold’s excellent blog Art. Play. Children. Learning.

* A term conceived by Dr George Land in his TEDxTuscon talk ‘The Failure of Success’, February 2011.

PlayShapes was originally commissioned by Chalk and BALTIC as part of the MAPS Festival 2019 programme and supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

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