Goodwill: Memoirs of Yard Play

GOODWILL Participatory Arts Project Kym Maxwell Melbourne 2013

GOODWILL

Participatory Arts Project Kym Maxwell Melbourne 2013

Images: Early days research: Exploring the use of the kit

GOODWILL participartory arts project

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Contents

The book forms part of an exhibition GOODWILL: Memoirs of Yard Play Held at Top Shelf Gallery, 369 Lonsdale St, Melbourne November 16th - 22nd, 2013 The participatory research project was enacted from March to November 2013 A big thank-you goes to Helen Hughes for her introduction and continual support and to Ross Paxman for designing the beautiful publication. Additionally I would like to thank Dirk Leuschner, Noah Maxwell and Pascal Maxwell–Leuschner for making me think about other things: the teachers Holly, Ariel and Rachel, Gerard and Anne for whom this research and publication would not have been possible. Dan Rule, Justine Ellis and Michael Hole who saw the value in this project early on, also Daine Singer, Sarah Daly and Lisa Radford for advice. Participants Caitlin, Rebecca, Maria and Emma for closing the gap on narratives and Julian Williams for inspiration.

I would like to thank my sponsors Woodcraft Mobiliar for the making of the boxes and cutting of the wood, and Dutch from Barkly Glass for the infinite amounts of mirror supplied for the production of installation objects for the exhibition.

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Introduction Text by Helen Hughes

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‘The future society will leave possibilities unused’ Text by Kym Maxwell

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A Perspective: Palle Nielsen’s ‘Model for a Qualitative Society’ Text by Kym Maxwell

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Annie Dennis Children’s Centre: Children under five Interviews and images

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Westgarth Primary: Children under eleven interview and images

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Small Block Cafe: Memoirs of yard play Participant interview and images

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Perimeter Books: Artefacts of play installation Interviews and images

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Post-production

GOODWILL Kit designed by Kym Maxwell www.kymmaxwell.com Publication design by Ross Paxman www.rosspaxman.com © Kym Maxwell, 2013

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Introduction

Text by Helen Hughes Kym Maxwell is an artist, teacher and thinker whose work within and across these distinct fields concerns notions of education, play and social spaces. More specifically, Maxwell’s work concerns the types of interpersonal relationships that are generated by the teacher–student dialogue, and the ideologically unfettered “play” of children.

She is interested in how alternative educational models (such as those proffered by the post-war Italian Reggio Emilia approach) and different types of objects and spaces (such as toolboxes and playgrounds) depart from conventional, topdown models of teaching and nurture new modes of learning instead.

Put more simply, Maxwell is concerned with the intersection between social, intimate and functional relationships (student–teacher, student–student, child-parent, stranger– stranger), and sculpture and installation (objects and environments). As such, the physical layout of a schoolroom or yard — its tables, whiteboards, instructional posters, dug out holes, tools made from nature, cut trees for safety, or found furniture — is used as support, and the narratives surrounding these — becomes a rich text that Maxwell can mine for invisible elements, like informational flows and interpersonal dynamics or hierarchies.

She continues these explorations in her latest project, GOODWILL, which has involved Maxwell creating a small sculptural “toolbox” and depositing it for general use in two education centres, a bookshop, a café and a gallery over the course of the year 2013. This book documents and maps their use.

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A theoretical toolbox for interpreting what follows, then, might include: Jacques Ranciere’s account of the French school teacher Joseph Jacotot in The Ignorant Schoolmaster Irit Rogoff’s e-flux essay The Educational Turn Claire Bishop’s chapter, Pedagogical Projects in Artificial Hells Paul O’Neill’s Curating and the Education Turn Kym Maxwell, Experience and perceptions of “children’s research” and the educational turn in un Magazine, 7.1 Joseph Beuys’s Idea for a free university Annette Krauss’s Hidden Curriculum Palle Nielsen’s The Model for a Qualitative Society Freidrich Schiller’s Uber die ästhetische Erziehung des Menschen (‘On the Aesthetic Education of Man kind’, 1793) And it is to this broad and important dialogue on the intersection between education and contemporary art that Maxwell contributes, through both her written and artistic practices.

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“The future society will leave possibilities unused” 1 Text by Kym Maxwell As an artist I have taken an interest in exploring notions of play in public space. The GOODWILL project has been designed to challenge play’s association to risk in outdoor learning and how we deal with this impact on interpersonal development, adult character and sense of responsibility. The project is informed by a practice-led research model, whilst it’s philosophical direction is embedded in Vygotsky’s social constructivist theories, and research into Palle Nielsen’s ‘Model for a Qualitative Society’. Personally it reflects my role as teacher, and facilitator of risk, in public primary schools.

The GOODWILL KIT, designed in early 2013, was inspired by David Cashman and Roger Fagins 1970s Islington School’s Environmental project (ISEP) in the UK. Fagin and Cashman observed art students had become ‘insular and competitive’. To counteract this they devised an artists-in-school program collaborating with children on outdoor playground design. They designed a play kit (on which GOODWILL is based) to help undergrads establish a dialogue with locals around perceptions of yard play as a form of social learning. Their work acknowledged the yard as creative site for non-verbal communication and the children’s constructions an important troupe in which to examine personal conflicts and values.

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Images: Islington School Environmental Project The Laycock School and other experiments

1. Larsen, Lars Bang, Social Aesthetics, Afterall Autumn/Winter 2000

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Images: Islington School Environmental Project The Laycock School and other experiments

The GOODWILL KIT is a wooden toy box full of tactile inanimate objects, such as Lego tyres, dowels, planks, lengths of string and fabric. The project sought to encourage participants (first children and then adults) to build playscapes, and additionally and share experiences of play through dialogue with me, as I document their tableauxs. I employed the toy kit as a tool to understand how play can become arbitrary, hierarchical or power driven.

In so doing I was able to use the smallest of objects as metaphor for the politics at play in aesthetic experience.

Additionally the kinesthetic object tinkering developed a bi-product; release of stories from participants about how play created for them the earliest conditions of experience for early experiences in dealing with conflict and trust, in the absence of adult intervention, thus a chance to own or explore personal values, ideas and rights. These conversations have become rich narratives which have contributed towards the development of film scripts, further field research and the building of an exhibition around the politics of space, risk adversity and the scale of ideas.

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01.

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A Perspective: Palle Nielsen's ‘Model for a Qualitative Society’ An inspiration for this social based project has been Palle Nielsen’s nomadic art activism, in particular his work from 1968 the ‘Model for a Qualitative Society’ presented at the Stockholm Museum Moderna Museet. Nielsen is a Danish artist renowned for his participatory social engaged art practices and his participation in the arts activist group ‘Action Dialogue’ (from 1966-1972). Palle become involved in the groups building of an adventure playgrounds in housing estates in Copenhagen’s Northern Borough in early ‘68.

Members from Action Dialogue would gather large ex-construction site materials and create adventure playgrounds for families that had otherwise no facility for outdoor play. At the time the distribution of funds by the State was based on demand — Palle’s approach questioned the state’s priorities and addressed a need to re-focus them towards socially engaged production for communities, utilising sites of abandonment. Sites where rogue playgrounds can be built with minimal intervention.

Around the same time as the Situationists, Palle’s movement was empathetic to this art activism dialogue.

To demonstrate his beliefs he asked the director of Stockholm Museum Moderna Museet to iterate a temporary playground within the main gallery, and so over a period of 3 weeks in 1968 ‘Model for a Qualitative Society’ was constructed. It was one of the largest attended exhibitions with over 35,000 visitors. 1

01. Offset printing press installed by Palle Nielsen for the exhibition Festival 200 at Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall in Copenhagen, 1969 02. Minister of Education Olof Palme visiting The Model with his sons, 1968 03. The Høje Gladsaxe adventure playground, 1969 04. Documentation Palle Nielsen ‘The Model for a Qualitative Society’ Moderna Museet, Stockholm 1968 05. Palle Nielsen’s The Children’s Peace Corner, Utrecht, 2009 06. Cover of The Model exhibition catalogue, 1968 07. Playground at the entrance of the Moderna Museet during The Model, 1968

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1. Larsen, Lars Bang, MACDA, The Model: A Model for the Qualitative Society, 2010, MACDA, p. 72

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Birgitta Arvas, the Museums children’s outreach worker, wrote (25 November, 1980): “It is one of the most important events in the history of the museum – it was, so to speak, the starting signal for a whole new form of organisation, not only at the Moderna Museet but also in most other museums.” 2

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2. Larsen, Lars Bang, MACDA, the Model for the Qualitative Society, p. 29 3. Jean-Francois Chevrier, The Year 1967. From Art Objects to Public Things. Or: Variation on the Conquest of Space. Barcelona: Fundacio Antoni Tapies, 1997, p. 136: Larsen, Lars Bang, MACDA, the Model for the Qualitative Society, p. 72 and p. 49

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The exhibit consisted of a large-scale community built playscape constructed out of wood, tyres and rope and a foam pit. The foyer housed a series of CTV monitors projecting footage from inside the gallery to the café, a location preferred by some, as entering the gallery was considered an ‘act of participation’. Acts included, jumping, building, DJing with the multiple record players, wearing masks and painting on the temporarily re-plastered walls. There is even a famous photo of the town Mayor in full flight jumping into the foam pit. The Model site was active and evolving, to accommodate new arrivals an alternative playground was erected out front. Upon conclusion the entire play frame and project was sold to Vasteras’ Council Housing Estate who utilized it throughout 1969, attracting new tenancy to the area.

Palle Nielsen is still active, working on a smaller scale initiating projects that recapture the inquiry of The Model.

Jean-Francois Chevrier writes, ‘the spectacle of the streets had long since entered the museum’. But it was in the street itself that the social protests and riots against segregation took place.

‘With The Model Nielsen’s idea reversed this logic, claiming that freedom could also exist inside the museum.’ 3 GOODWILL participartory arts project

Annie Dennis Children's Centre

Children under five GOODWILL Participatory Arts Project Melbourne April—May, August 2013

26th of April, 2013, 10:00am

Following is a transcript of a conversation I had with the children, and Rachel and Ariel their kindergarten teachers. Due to the nature of transcript and to protect privacy I made the decision to refer to all children’s voices as C and all adult voices as A. I also decided to improve transcript clarity by changing the grammar and embellish some meaning where meaning has been lost.

A: Please use the materials to make a playground that all people may use.

C: I am making a seesaw C: See-saw marjorie dore...

A: Can you describe the material you are using?

A: Beautiful, does it come from a story?

C: No.. I don’t know what it will be.

A: You can see the way it stretches and pulls over that log, there is lots of possibilities with that wood. (a parent enters the room) A: wow, ohh ...wow!! What are you guys making?

They are just practicing what they can do... they are not thinking about what playscapes they’re creating just yet, but they are playing with materials in interesting ways.

A: Do you girls often play together?

C: No A: ... You just happen to be sitting at the table across from each other.

A: Lets imagine someone this size playing in this space, what are some other possibilities?

(Adult leaves the area and the girls keep talking) C: I don’t have enough sticks....!

C: Well I’m not supposed to know that.

C: I don’t even know what I am making!

A: You’ll turn it into something.

A: I think they’re just really responding to the fabric aren’t they?

A: And all the different materials they haven’t seen before.

A: It would be good to have little figurines because that would help them think about it as a miniature play site.

A: We’ve got figurines.

(Adults leave the room) C: I wonder what figurines are?

C: I know what they are. They are like things but you cant eat them cause they can squash on the ground.

(Adult returns with figurines) A: We have dollhouse ones too ... they’re in the tree house.

They’re bigger. I’ll go get them.

C: Rachel this is a person and the material is a dress.

A: The material is a dress?

A: What kind of space is that making?

C: A seat A: What’s that?

A: (…) communicate beautifully without words.

A: Can you describe what you are making (…) ?

A: She can focus for a really long time… she’s focusing on the materials

The children’s dialogue represents undefined goals and freedom of exploration, whereas the adult dialogue tells the story of a desire to define and to achieve a purpose.

The narratives within a young child’s representations are conceptual clues to their understandings and concerns.

(Adult returns) A: What is it you are making?

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Westgarth Primary School

Children under Eleven GOODWILL Participatory Arts Project Melbourne April—May, August 2013

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17th of May, 2013, 10:00am I went to look at a play structure erected by a group of year 3/4 kids in the Westgarth yard. I was told about it by Holly, the teacher I’d been working with. What was interesting was the adults hadn’t demanded it be dismantled.

First impressions: Very well organised and strong, with a sense of practicality and proportion. There was an unusual mud brick wall supporting a kid-made branch fence, with internal brick and tyre furniture (not sure where the tyre came from) — and a side entrance. One made out of tree supports, the second a natural canopy of the tree — this housed the ‘potion area’. There was a series of found objects originally manufactured for casual use, renewed as play objects. A white A4 sheet taken from the classroom had HUT inscribed on it, notifying all — they were serious.

Nearby a pond of rainfall used as mortar. In this way, a Stigma lunchbox container became a vessel to scoop the fall with and build the walls of the fort. Each play period the objects lay dormant, not often moved. Noticeably there was a well-designed trowel that seemed out of place in the scene. Areas were camoflauged, as if anticipating shut down.

While photographing the space Doug the kindergarten teacher came over. We had a spontaneous conversation about the play structure and the older children’s motivation, how it connects directly to the children’s work from the kindergarten. He suggested the kindergarten children had passed these materials through the fence. He referenced the kinder Bush School aesthetic and how it sits in contrast to the schoolyard site, then we discussed our perspectives for a while. The trowel a natural example, I proposed some of the tree trunks had come from his side, Doug pointed to the exact same materials from his side of the fence.

This Hut was the establishment of a group called ‘Extinction Warriors’, later it was moved to another area with a new incarnation, ‘Green Paw’.

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Transcript of kids using the GOODWILL kit, April 30th 2013

A classroom C: So lets vote guys, who votes for a cubby house? A house, a tower, a wheelchair slide, a car, a boat, a boat... boat, OK buffet.

C: Who wants a buffet?

C: OK, it’s a draw out of a car and a boat.

C: Everybody sit down, you can only vote car or boat because they got through.

C: ( …. ) wants to make a tower.

A: I like the way these tables are able to work together.

C: How about me,( …. ) and ( …. ) want to make a boat!

C: But these guys don’t want to work together, we have already voted we are making a boat!

A: You’ll need to work together to negotiate what you are going to make.

C: Do you want to build a boat?

C: No C: Do you want to build a tower?

C: Yes! C: OK, we are going to build a tower.

C: How about we all make a variety of cars?

C: We want to make a boat!

C: OK you guys can make a boat we can make a titanic!

C: We are not really making the same thing.

C: Let’s make different forms of racing cars!

(Microphone is moved to another table) C: Maybe we should make the tree house. Does anyone have an idea for the inside of the tree house?

C: I have an idea for the inside (things are moved around) C: Genius!

C: How do you feel about being called a genius?

C: What about wigalicious?

C: Wigalicious!

C: Why don’t we put this around it?

C: I’ve got an idea let’s use this here.

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C: That’s a good idea.

C: My tree house is working fabulously.

C: It’s not yours!

C: I know it’s all ours, it’s my idea and all our idea, and it’s working fabulously.

C: It doesn’t mean it’s yours!

C: It’s ours it’s our idea.

Interview in the school yard, June 18, 2013

A: Can you tell me before you had this sign the ‘HUT’.

C: It was called the Hut and it was really bad because people were having wars. It got destroyed! An adult destroyed it.

C: An adult broke it because we had a roof.

A: because they thought it was dangerous?

C: because it had a roof and they thought it would fall on us.

And that’s the problem we had.

C: We put up the signs really well. We got a club called the Extinction Fighters. The boss is here.

A: So when you have bosses there must be other people.

C: They organise special meeting.

C: Yeh we have special meetings over there inside what we call the catacombs!

A: The caracombs?

C: Yeh we meet in there and discuss fundraising ideas, we listen to ideas, we have meetings every 10 to 15 minutes — 3 to 5 minutes.

A: 10 to 5 minutes a meeting?

C: No we have a meeting every 3 to 5 minutes.

A: Oh you have a meeting every for 10 minutes every 5 minutes.

C: Yeh we get to discuss what we are going to do in the next 5 to 10 minutes.

A: Yeh right!, The building from the Hut here is built with mud walls. Did you get them from the kindergarten next door?

C: No we had an old hut and rebuilt it, they were lying around.

Yeh, we’re going to have a meeting now…

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Small Block Cafe

Memoirs of yard play GOODWILL Participatory Arts Project Melbourne June 6th—8th, 2013

June 7, 2013, 2:00-5:00 pm Small Block Cafe

June 8, 2013, 2:00-5:00pm

2:00pm I used to think teachers were the evil spies. We used to play games keeping watch from the swing set. We did have a gang it had a theme song and actions. Our gang had myself and my brother and few other kids of different ages. Our gang used to have quests, we had to solve clues and defeat the baddies. The spies were the teachers on yard duty, they never knew we made them baddies. It was called the ‘Cat Squad’ we had special powers, our opposition were the dogs. My special power was a super sense of smell and heightened hearing. My brother’s special power was a wizard power. We made movies in our lunch breaks they were epics! In Grade 1 we had the ‘Contiki’ film that lasted several playtimes. Grade 2 we had the thief and magician theme, these were smaller stories. Through outdoor play I think I developed an ability to resolve problems and have conversations with people to work out what was superficial.

2:15pm Most of the kids today play tech games, which makes play a lot more private. Kids now have their own bathroom, there is more emphasis on social etiquette. We used to play after breakfast down the street. We have gangs of neighborhood kids that would hang out together. Friends used to turn up without asking, to do that today isn’t possible you need to text each other — visiting without planning is intrusive.

Parents are too paranoid. On holiday we used to spend the whole day down the beach and come back for dinner. I think technology is the change.

2:35pm There were 30 kids in my school I loved it. They tended to do what I wanted them to do I was the dictator.

4:00pm I’m from New Zealand we had saws and wood to play with.

The first toy I made fascinated me. It was two pieces of wood with a nail in it. When I pushed it one way the top piece would swing and it would collapse. I was 4 at the time. A kid stole it from me. I was really upset. He could see it was cool and wanted it, I got it back. I liked the experience of doing my own thing and making it successful. I think we miss the connectedness to things with technology today there is no connection to the creation process. I remember a wooden playground that got knocked down. In Japan they are knocking down playgrounds and making elderly playgrounds. I think education is the defining factor as to whether kids will create or not. You should read ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’.

4:10pm I used to play with Lego a lot I asked ‘What am I meant to do with this?’ I still play everyday — for example I bike ride and skateboard. I consider play as busy and in a good mood. I think growing up is over rated I think it serves the purpose for the model.

Which Model?

Yes the industrial model

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3:00pm When I was a kid I used to make dollhouses out of video boxes. As an adult I’m more aware of expectations and responsibility. Now when a child is not interested in expectations the parent feels responsible.

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Perimeter Books

Artefacts of play installation GOODWILL Participatory Arts Project Melbourne June 6th—8th, 2013

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June 13, 2013, 1:00-3:00 pm Transcript of interview with Rebecca

I remember indoor play mostly, we didn’t really have many loose materials. In Australia, you have more choices than just the park. Playgrounds in Taiwan all look the same, it’s not often you see kids playing outside there. I think here you have common sense where you try to design spaces to match the surroundings. I think the Taiwanese government design spaces for all playgrounds and that’s why they look the same. Maybe it’s because they prioritise maintenance.

I used to play in my parents store, we had a VHS Store.

The materials I had were VHS tape. I used to pull out the sleeves and use the boxes. I loved playing with these, I would go upstairs and play with my sister amongst the tapes, in an area that wasn’t very popular. I would sit on a trolley, put VHS’s on the floor and my sister would push me and we would drive along it, it was very bumpy. I also put rubber bands on the boxes and made instruments.

When I was older in Elementary School (High School) my parents sold their video store and bought a comic book rental store. Comics became an influence. I would choose my favorite comics based on the cover. I liked the Ballet series. I liked Japanese book artists. Compared to other girls I liked horror books. My parents were conservative. The artist I mentioned drew a fashion design school series it was called Paradise Kiss. I would draw the covers. My parents wouldn’t support me doing visual art. I was expected to do industrial design but then I transferred to fashion school. I remember also in the video store there were these large laser disc’s ...

Do you know them? Laser discs! From 1988-1990, they were black, we would package and sell them. We would use a hair dryer to seal the packs. I liked the vacuum, when it sucked out all the air.

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Post production MELBOURNE Green Paw investigations — Film — Big Tree Yard Design — Sculptural Exhibition How Are You What You Are (interviews) July — September, 2013

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06 - 07.

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01. Tableaux used as inspiration for sculptural exhibition

05 - 06. Scaling up Goodwill actual size in school yard

02. Green Paw film in development with Julian WIlliams

07. Sculptural Development Exhibition

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03. Installation Kings Ari August 30th video interviews 04. Green Paw Field Research 04.

09. Installation Kings Ari August 30th video interviews 10. Big Tree Yard Design 11. Green Paw Field Research Darebin Creek August 2013 12. Script development Caitlin interview 13.‘How Are You What You Are’ Rebecca interview—Thornbury studio

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G OO DWI LL

Thenotionthatachild’searlysocial relationsformstheadultindividual is investigatedbywayofTheModel.

Creativityandexperientialcontact acknowledgetheessenceofa ‘qualitativehumanbeing’asan individualofsociety.However,a surplusofmeaning—createdby TheModelendsupbeyondvalueand system,betweenwhatisidealand absentandwhatisconcreteand forgotten.Thisishowplay,andthe playingsubjectmanifestinandby TheModel.