When we are kids we just play, we make it up as we go along and that’s the joy of it. At that age play is more or less unstructured and it’s something we do instinctively. As kids we lose ourselves in play and whether we are alone or in a group it is all-consuming. When we enter adulthood something happens to play; it becomes structured into forms such as sport, socialising, courtship rituals, hobbies, shopping and other organised events and in the process something often gets lost – that something is the ability to spontaneously be in the moment, to play unselfconsciously. In Artlink we use play to engage with people whose lives can be routined by day-to-day logistics, where variety and new experiences rely on the imaginations of those around them. To cope or find some form of respite from over, or under stimulation – behaviours can become internalised and repetitive – the same action becoming a form of comfort or control. Produced by Artlink with Jim Colquhoun & John Fletcher.
