The uniform surface of a giant sheet of rice paper hanging floor-to-ceiling is suddenly interrupted by a splotch of black ink. The splotch moves upwards, creating a line that is growing like a miracle plant, then bending like a blade of grass. Another line rises then curves into a spiral, and then the spiral darkens and expands. A loopy, swirly forest is taking shape on the surface of the paper as the ink splotch dances about like an enchanted genie. This illusion, occurring during a spontaneous art occupation of an old house in Shanghai last month, is a serendipitous surprise, made all the more interesting by peering around the other side of the paper, to observe the brush, that is being guided by the hand, that is being guided by the person who is the actual genie performing this little miracle.
This blog entry is about ‘play’ and the value of continued play throughout our lives. Adults at play get little solicitude from their neighbors, employers, spouses, other peers, etc. There is greater latitude, of course, for children. Scores of prominent educators have extolled the virtues of open play during childhood, nurturing cultures that encourage and delight in children pushing food around, scribbling and scrawling, and balancing on fences. Yet it is still conventional to understand play as a part of “growing up”.
The dozen or so artists that participated in the house occupation were all fully grown adults. In addition, an unspecified number of visitors passed in and out of the rooms, fondling the peculiar installations, testing them, lying on them, drawing on them. There was a field of miniature cactus plants made of the most inviting green felt. There was a large brain that emanated modulating tones in response to controlled gesticulation. More sounds were emanating from a derelict bathroom. There were some motors and strings that didn’t seem to be working.
The fact that some rules were broken in the course of the day (such as the rule against occupying empty houses) might suggest that this haphazard coalescence was just about blowing off steam. There certainly was no press in evidence, no “vernissage”, no VIP tent or sponsor logos overtly indicating commercial or professional ambitions. Yet something more than a party was going on. Or, depending on your point of view, more purely a party.
One of the early voices in the extensive scholarship on ‘play’ was the American philosopher John Dewey, who wrote that “work which remains permeated with the play attitude is art — in quality if not in conventional designation”. This formulation nicely challenges the assumptions behind the notion that play is mostly for children. Yet it doesn’t quite capture the spirit of the house occupation. “Play with a work attitude” might be closer to the mark, conveying the essentially haphazard quality of the proceedings.
In either case, art –and its potency– is what is at stake. Is ‘play’ always implicated in a ‘work’ of art? Returning to the ink splotch and its strange autonomy, the Daoist term 无为 “wuwei” seems also to apply –usually translated as “non-action” but meaning something more like “acting naturally”. This description eclipses the disjunctive aspects of “work” and “play”, but in the context of the house occupation it sounds a bit austere. “Emergence” is a scientific term with a similar drift, indicating the new thing produced by dynamic processes, like a thought or an organism or a trend. But this term carries the baggage of dry academic detachment. The theatrical lexicon offers “yes-anding”, an invented gerund that connotes moving an improvised scene along unimpeded by critical attitudes, self-doubt or pre-determined goals. This seems appropriate for what is indeed a very theatrical atmosphere, even though it’s not a very elegant word.
In the end, “play” may be the most apt description of these proceedings, especially if this word is understood not in juxtaposition to “work” but in agreement with it, tending towards some of the generative concepts mentioned above. Art may be described in various ways depending on the circumstances. Where the circumstances fit, let’s not be averse to play!