short synopsis
- Do you remember the game you played as a child?
- Please do not forget to turn around and smile, expecting your heart to remain unchanged.
The theme of my exhibition is PLAY&TIME&HUMAN, they are interconnected and carry each other. My curatorial concept is based on the Swiss psychologist Piaget’s theory (Huitt, et.al, 2003.pp): “Play is not an independent meaningless activity, but only a manifestation of cognitive level and cognitive development is realized in the process of assimilation and conformity.” I argue with it . Since,in play children incorporate new real-world understandings and new behaviors into existing cognitive structures. Children can practice skills learned in everyday life by play, and even change the world through imagination to make it more compatible with the existing cognitive structure. People need games, which bring not only a relaxing and pleasant gaming experience but also an emotional experience. For Freud, the intrinsic motivation that drives children to engage in play is the pleasure principle from mental life (Dong, 2005).
Based on Piaget’s play theory, there are three types of games corresponding to practice games, symbolic games, and games with rules. Therefore, I believe that play development is compatible with children’s cognitive development. In addition, the purpose of games required by children at each stage is different.Thus, I made a classification in the selection of works. The main distinction is made between three representative time points: childhood, adolescence, and old age, and the different artworks are selected in this way.
Firstly, childhood (0-10 years old). The artist I invited is an undergraduate art student at Edinburgh University-James. He uses the scene of riding a bicycle as a child as an entry point to express the barrier between “childhood” and “adulthood”. “When the idea of childhood is completed, childhood becomes the ideal again.” In our childhood, we are eager to learn different skills, to be praised by our elders. However, “as time continues to leave its mark on us,” the memories of childhood become more precious and painful to remember.
Secondly, the adulthood (11-18 years old). The games in this period are mainly focused on the growth of children’s intelligence. I invited Nora, an Italian artist, to design an artwork for a museum in Milan, Italy (PIC.1). The game’s cards and maps are set against the backdrop of the artwork. Players have to answer questions about the artwork on the cards within a fixed period of time. It helps players to think differently and exercise their reaction skills.
（PIC.1)
Finally, ageing. (65 years old and above) . One of the artworks display is from mine.Since, I thought was a way to further participate in the curatorial process (PIC.2) “Let it stand naturally while the viewer stands and observes the flow of sand in Hourglass over time.” As for me , life is a battlefield, and everyone must “pass through the five levels” and work hard to achieve their ideals . However, once people have satisfied the first seven needs of Maslow’s theory, they begin to look for “transcendent needs” – the value of self-actualization (McLeod, 2007). The “hourglass” game device alludes to the Chinese Buddhist phrase “four emptinesses”. In the Chinese Forty-two Sutras, it is written, “The Buddha said, ‘Remember that each of the four great bodies has a name, and there is no one without a self.'” (Yi Ying, 2007) This refers to the fact that the elements that make up all things are not real and have no self-nature.Meanwhile, my artistic concept is in line with Schiller’s doctrine of play: play is man’s impulse to take aesthetic representations as objects, a pure play without utilitarianism and purpose (Yi Ying, 2007) . In the period of “transcendental need”, human is like an hourglass, following the essence of heaven and earth as time passes, and reaching the utopia of the mind.
(PIC.2)
I believe that artworks are not the artist’s mumbling. The “connection” with the audience is a crucial part of curation. The work of art is the link between the artist and the viewer. The French art theorist Nicolas Bourriaud, in his “Aesthetics of Relation” (Bourriaud, 2020) states that human society is a relational society, not a separate and private space.Therefore, in the curation of the exhibition, I included a feedback session for the audience. After viewing the artworks, the audience can record their understanding of the artworks and their critical reflections on the meaning of their own lives. Ultimately, the audience can reflect on the meaning of life.
Life is a game, under the witness of time, we grow up from a child learning to speak to an adult until we grow old and die. After we talk about the three keywords, what comes to mind is the meaning of life. Freud thought that play is an alternative to repressed desire (Dong, 2005). In his view, art is a kind of game as well, with social and symbolic characteristics (Dong, 2005). I strongly agree with his view. Play is an activity to release pressure and get pleasure. The meaning of life is also reflected in the game of life.
Reference
- Huitt W, Hummel J. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development[J]. Educational psychology interactive, 2003, 3(2): 1-5.
- .McLeod S. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs[J]. Simply psychology, 2007, 1(1-18).
- Guo Yiying. A test of Schiller’s “game theory”[J]. Journal of Inner Mongolia Normal University: Philosophy and Social Science Edition, 2007 (S1): 226-
- Bourriaud, N. . Relational aesthetics. Les presses du réel.(2020).
- Chongcao Dong. Game and art in the eyes of Freud [J]. Journal of Zhejiang Normal University: Social Science Edition,2005(3):40-45.
Leave a Reply