Summary Of Game On By Marina Warner

Novelist Marina Warner in her article ‘Game on’ (2005) highlights the ways in which artists engage with play in making their artwork and how ‘’artists are increasingly searching for new forms of representation through play-acting and make-believe’’ (Warner, M. ‘Game On’ 2005). She states that numerous contemporary artists are intrigued with the idea of childhood play and this has ‘’never been as central to artists’ enterprise as it is today’’ Warner makes references to Surrealist art in relation to childhood play, specifically to the way in which it freed the artist of conscious, rational control and instead aimed to explore uninhibited dreams and imaginings. It expanded artwork into a realm of cognitive creation, similar to the way in which a child might convert “knives, forks, and spoons into mountaineers and acrobats” (Fischli and Weiss; 1996. Pg. 97).
Spontaneous and joyful, subversive or amusing, play can take many forms in daily life as well as in contemporary art. Historian and cultural Theorist, Johan Huizinga gives one
definition of the term ‘play’. In his influential study of play (Homo Ludens, 1938) Huizinga questions biological and developmental approaches to play. He describes play as a free and meaningful activity, carried out for its own sake. A voluntary activity that is performed in order to enjoy the capacity of being able to perform it with no practical or material interest, just for fun and with pleasure. He argues that the quality of freedom and non-obligation distinguishes childhood play from adulthood.
The word ‘play’ in the context of art seems to be loaded with prejudice and implies a sense of irresponsibility, detachment from real life problems and superficiality. However, through the avant-garde artistic experiments and contemporary art, the term ‘play’ in the context of art and artists seems to have shifted means; it is an orientation on the process, experimentation, stepping into different realities, changing identities and so on. Many contemporary artists such as Fischli and Weiss, Jessica Stockholder and William Wegman are amongst those who are intrigued with the idea of childhood play. In this essay I will examine how the notion of play can be approached in the context of art through different practices. I will discuss the ways in which contemporary artists go beyond the traditional stereotypes and interpretations of play and experiment with the type of play that has danger attached or links to notions of transgration and disobedience or the type of play that is simply pure frivolity.
Philosopher Gregory Bateson in his essay ‘A Theory of Play and Fantasy’ gives a different definition of play. He suggests that play is a ‘’paradox because it is both and is not what it appears to be.’’ (Bateson, G. 1987) Peter Fischli and David Weiss adhere to this proposition in their most famous work ‘The Way Things Go’ (1987) where the objects are familiar and every day, yet are seemingly given a life of their own. The duo are an example of artists who in their work use the joyful and imaginative values that come to mind when pondering the creativity of a child.
Artworks such as ‘The Way Things Go’ and ‘At The Carpet Shop’ (1979) draw on the image and experience of childhood play in different ways. The thirty-minute film ‘The Way Things Go’ features a series of chain reactions involving ordinary objects. Jeremy Millar describes the work as a ‘’seemingly chaotic, obviously choreographed sequence of everyday objects crashing, falling, tipping, rolling one into, onto over another, and this then, in turn, taking its turn in the seemingly never-ending sequence of controlled catastrophe.’’ (Millar, J. 2007). Millar goes in depth with how the film embodies slapstick humour and the objects used in the film are utilised in such a way that has very little to do with their original purpose. He concludes that the work is timeless, both pre-historic and post-apocalyptic, because ‘’it is about itself’’ (Millar, J. 2007). Philosopher Susan Buck-Morss in her book ‘The Dialects Of Seeing’ argues that this kind of creativity – where one is altering the functionality of an object is something that comes naturally to children where they “rather than accepting the given means of things, children get to know objects by laying hold of them, and using them creatively, releasing from them new possibilities of meaning” (Buck-Morss, 1989).
Arthur Danto (Fischli, P. Weiss, D. 1996. Pg. 96) references psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud’s analysis on the definition of children’s play; ‘’it is a rehearsal for adult life.’’ Freud argues that a child’s play is determined by a certain wish, ‘’the wish to be grown up’’ (Fischli, P. Weiss, D. 1996. Pg. 96). According to Freud, the child is always playing at being ‘’grown up’’, for example, little girls play with dolls and miniature furniture, thus imitating the housekeeping and nurturing that the mother, as model, really does. Danto further points out that children also play primarily for each other’s entertainment or more interestingly to undermine rules, such as playing at the dinner table; a place confined to strict rules. ‘Don’t Play With Your Food: At the Carpet Shop’ (Fischli and Weiss, 1979) is a classic example of how contemporary artists imitate childhood play in their work. This piece was a display of cold meat cuts, laid out in such a way that the artists wilfully ignored the exhortation made by parents to their children: ‘Don’t play with your food’. Jeremy Miller describes the humorous and playful piece as ‘’ a family of gherkins inspects piles of carpets and rugs made out of cooked meat, helped by a tip of white radish that can only be the sales assistant.’’ (Millar, J. ‘The Art of Humour’ 2012).
As discussed, children’s play according to Freud is make believe adult behaviour. Sculptor and installation artist Jessica Stockholder introduces this idea of play in some of her installation works. Stockholder makes sculptures on the scale of furniture, assembling objects made of brightly coloured plastic. Stockholder’s installations, sculptures, and collages affirm the primacy of pleasure and the blunt reality of things. In 2003, a broadcast television series ART21 (’Art in the twenty-first century’) focused exclusively on contemporary visual art and both established and emerging artists. The season 3 documentary ‘’Play’’ explores the work of Jessica Stockholder amongst artists such as Oliver Herring, Arturo Herrera and Ellen Gallagher, all of whom engage a sense of playfulness in their work. Stockholder explains in the Season 3 documentary ’Play’; ‘’I love plastic. And I also just love colour’’ (ART21. IMDb, 2005). Her fascination with mundane objects is evident in the way she arranges these objects in playful surprising ways. “I’m interested in how a thinking process can meander in unpredictable ways,” she says. Like child's play, “learning that doesn’t have a predetermined end.’’ (ART21. IMDb, 2005).
According to essayist Roland Waspe; "A little Alice in Wonderland is the way you feel in one of Jessica Stockholder's environments." (Waspe, R. ‘Vortex in the play of theatre with real passion’ 2005). He states the artist uses cloth, pastel flooring and bright Lego blocks that colourfully transform the room into a playful environment. It is evident that by experimenting with childlike methods, materials, modes of representation and symbolism artists reproduce the world of a child but are also imitating the adult world, reflecting it in miniature, realising it in make-believe. Where a sense of playfulness is evident in Stockholders work, e.g. Lego blocks (‘Vortex in the play of theatre with real passion’ 2000), she also portrays a sense of the corresponding adult life in the same work where concrete building blocks are displayed very close to the Lego blocks. Stockholder exposes the pleasure and play of building with Lego blocks in relation to the labour and work of building with concrete blocks. This addresses and raises questions on what is play? And what is work?
A video art pioneer and conceptual photographer William Wegman is another artist who is known for incorporating a sense of childhood play in his work.
Wegman’s video art in the 1970s specifically explores incongruity to deliver humour to a greater level. Marina Warner highlights that ‘’artists transform inert material things, animating them with fantasy, infusing objects with meaning through memories of childhood, or in imitation of children's imaginative games’’ (Warner, M. ‘Game On’ 2005).This can be seen in Wegmans short films in which he demonstrates the use of minimal elements such as his body and the dog ‘Man Ray’ to create unexpected moments or scenarios of conceptual humour. In the short film ‘The Spelling Lesson’ (1974), Wegman corrects the dog’s spelling test by implying that the dog spelt ‘out’ and ‘park’ correctly and then explains to the dog ‘’You spelled it B-E-E-C-H’’ instead of
‘beach’.
In other films such as ‘Stomach Song’ (1971) and ‘Deodorant Commercial’ (1972) Wegman uses his own body as comedic material and both films are as absurdly humorous as their titles suggest. Wegman plays with the notions of education and play, knowledge and foolishness. Throughout his short films, Wegman finds ironic humour in the unexpected incongruities of the everyday. His work links closely to Huizinga’s idea that play is disinterested; it is an activity pursued for its own sake and for those involved; amusement, humour and leisure plays an important role in both culture and society.
Art critique Kim Levin in her essay ‘Funny Instead of Formal’ references Wegman ‘’I always had the monitor on. I never wrote scripts. I would just pass something in front of a camera and see what I would do with it. The second take is normally the one.’’ (Levin, K. ‘Video works 1970-1999’. 2007). Levin highlights that Wegmans video art not only creates unexpected moments of conceptual humour but also emphasize that play is spontaneous. Critical theorist Walter Benjamin further argues that in childhood play, children are less intrigued by the preformed world that adults have created for them but more drawn to the ‘’valueless and intentionless of things’’ (Winnicott, D. W. 2001. Pg41). He argues that playing serves as the basis for creativity and the discovery of the self. According to Benjamin’s idea of play in relation to Wegmans video art, playing can therefore be regarded as an act of emancipation and as example of how the avant-gardes of the 20th century have introduced an element of play in their artistic practice in numerous ways.
To conclude, the way in which contemporary art can be understood to draw on the image and experience of childhood play varies. There are a myriad of reasons why artists have become intrigued with the idea of play. Perhaps because the traditional stereotypes and interpretations of play in our society is primarily designated to something children do and therefore becomes a novelty after reaching adulthood. Though, creativity is something that children and artists seem to have in common as both have the ability to personify inanimate objects as seen in ‘The Way Things Go’ – or indeed to do the opposite; ‘’children convert knives, forks, and spoons into mountaineers and acrobats” (Fischli and Weiss; 1996. Pg. 97). Huizinga famously argues that play is essentially not a serious activity, Play is disinterested; it is an activity pursued for its own sake and Arthur Danto adds that children also play primarily for each other’s entertainment or to undermine rules. ‘Don’t Play With Your Food: At the Carpet Shop’ (Fischli and Weiss, 1979) is a classic example of how contemporary artists imitate childhood play in their work. Likewise, Jessica Stockholder is another artist who according to Roland Waspe (Waspe, R. 2005) makes the viewer feel like ‘’a little Alice in Wonderland’’ in her exhibition. Though, stockholder also exposes and distinguishes between the relationship between ‘play’ and ‘work’. Wegman on the other hand, plays with the notions of education and play, using his body and other objects to create unexpected moments of conceptual humour.
The way in which the aforementioned artists draw on the image and experience of childhood play, varies from experimentation and transformation of objects; freedom and curiosity; interaction and anticipation; humour and disobedience and so on. All in all, play can be seen as both an internal element of the concept of art and as the external model for the creative process. It allows contemporary artists to be more liberated from the notions of production, mastery and authority. The development of this idea amongst contemporary artists makes play an important structural element in the concept of art and indeed contributes to the development of contemporary art.