Play! The Art of the Game

Play! The Art of the Game is a new exhibit at the Cobra museum in Amstelveen (near Amsterdam). According to the promotional description, the exhibit "reveals that play and playfulness are inextricably linked to the art of our time. There are marked parallels between the areas of art and play. Both are separate from everyday working life, are self-regulating, irrational and aimed at pleasure."

Though I've often written about the play/art connection, the following description is a far more informed, and useful overview of the influence of one over the other:

"Game and play have been defining impulses for major 20th and 21st artists. Innovative thinking and the experiment were their guiding principles. Marcel Duchamp dedicated himself to the game of chess and gambling, Hans Arp, Hugo Ball and Kurt Schwitters aspired to a more playful interpretation of the concept of art by using word games and chance, the Fluxus artist George Maciunas made a funny-looking ping-pong table, in their film 'The Way Things Go' Fischli & Weiss play around with the concepts of action and reaction, Jean Tinguely made moving constructions while Laurel & Hardy act like children in the film 'Brats'."

Thanks to fun scout Martin Booman for this find.