image source: Kunsthalle Zürich

Publisher Note english english german

Until the 1980s—and in rare cases until today—playgrounds were places for social experiments, risky projects, and spectacular sculptures. Architects, urban planners, artists, parents, and children were invited to leave their comfort zone and to venture into something new. "The Playground Project" brings many of these exemplary, but nowadays forgotten initiatives, pioneering acts, and adventures back. Examples from Europe, the USA, Japan, and India are discussed in depth and illustrated with numerous images. This is the first comprehensive overview of this kind and addresses laymen as well as experts who want to do more than just seesaw and swing.

The publication includes works by artists, architects, and landscape architects, such as Marjory Allen, Joseph Brown, Riccardo Dalisi, Richard Dattner, Aldo van Eyck, M. Paul Friedberg, Group Ludic (Xavier de la Salle, Simon Koszel, David Roditi), Alfred Ledermann and Alfred Trachsel, Palle Nielsen, Egon Møller-Nielsen, Isamu Noguchi, Joseph Schagerl, Mitsuru Senda, and Carl Theodor Sørensen. It brings together an introduction by Daniel Baumann, a comprehensive text on the historical development of the playground and its most important designers by the urban planner Gabriela Burkhalter, and essays by French sociologist and artist Xavier de la Salle, Indian artist Sreejata Roy, and French philosopher and curator Vincent Romagny.

Between 1950 and 1980 the playground developed into a creative laboratory. The cities of industrialized nations became hubs for innovative, eccentric, and exciting projects: landscape architects, artists, activists, and citizens sought to provide children with the best possible places to play in, and opened up new ways to think about the community and the city.

The Playground Project revives the wealth of ideas of that time to inspire us today. Through numerous previously unpublished pictures and essays, this publication explores the history of the playground as it was shaped by education, architecture, art, and politics. It pays tribute to the most important figures, many of them forgotten today: Marjory Allen (Lady Allen of Hurtwood), Joseph Brown, Riccardo Dalisi, Richard Dattner, Aldo van Eyck, M. Paul Friedberg, Alfred Ledermann, Alfred Trachsel, Group Ludic, Egon Møller-Nielsen, Palle Nielsen, Isamu Noguchi, Josef Schagerl, Mitsuru (Man) Senda, and Carl Theodor Sørensen.

The Playground Project is edited by Gabriela Burkhalter, with texts by Daniel Baumann, Gabriela Burkhalter, Vincent Romagny, Sreejata Roy, and Xavier de la Salle.

Zwischen 1950 und 1980 war der Spielplatz ein kreatives Labor. In den Städten der Industrienationen entstanden innovative, verrückte, interessante und aufregende Projekte: Landschafts- architekten, Künstler, Aktivisten und Bürger wollten Kindern den besten Spielort zur Verfügung stellen und zugleich Gemeinschaft und Stadt neu denken. In zahlreichen bisher unveröffentlichten Bildern bringt The Playground Project den damaligen Ideenreichtum zurück – damit wir uns heute davon inspirieren lassen können. Die Publikation zeigt die wechselvolle Geschichte des Spielplatzes zwischen Erziehung, Architektur, Kunst und Politik. Vertiefende Texte würdigen die wichtigsten Akteure, von denen heute viele vergessen sind: Marjory Allen (Lady Allen of Hurtwood), Joseph Brown, Riccardo Dalisi, Richard Dattner, Aldo van Eyck, M. Paul Friedberg, Alfred Ledermann, Alfred Trachsel, Group Ludic, Egon Møller-Nielsen, Palle Nielsen, Isamu Noguchi, Josef Schagerl, Mitsuru (Man) Senda und Carl Theodor Sørensen. The Playground Project, herausgegeben von Gabriela Burkhalter, mit Beiträgen von Daniel Baumann, Gabriela Burkhalter, Vincent Romagny, Sreejata Roy und Xavier de la Salle.

Exhibition Catalogue

The Playground Project

edited by Gabriela Burkhalter, Kunsthalle Zürich

Publisher
Release Place Switzerland
Edition 2nd edition
Release Date 2016
ISBN 978-3-03764-454-6
Credits
Designer: Dan Sollbach
Identifiers
ISBN-13: 978-3-03764-454-6
Original Price 48.00 CHF
Work  
Subform Architecture Book
Topics Architecture, Playground, Society
Language German, English
Format Softcover
Dimensions 26.5 × 21.0 × 2.1 cm
Weight 965 gram
Pages 240
Content 72 color; 127 b/w images

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