play

While looking through Chapter 5 of Critical Play by Mary Flanagan I became interesed in an artist who was mentioned only briefly. His name is Allan Kaprow and it is his work that coined the term Happening, something we all experienced a few weeks ago.

A Happening is a work that is shaped through audience participation. It creates a narrative through interactions of the participatnts and the Environment. The Environment is the space where the work occurs that encompasses everything that is needed for the work- people need only enter for it to begin. 

Kaprow's most famous work is "18 Happenings in 6 Parts". Reading about this work reminded me of "The Quiet Volume". It involves participants moving through a series of three rooms while following the direcctions written on three cards and the sound of bells to indicate when to move on.

I decided to make my mosaic by taking video clips of the mosaics and compiling them together.

The video should be embedded in this post but if it doesn't work the link to view it is: http://youtu.be/rYO7_hYaJxE

Samantha Plate

Play In The City

09/15/2013

It’s All About The Details

            “I can feel the history of the building as I observe the architecture, as I run my fingers along the spines of books that have been read countless times, as I breathe in the smell of ink and paper.” This is what I wrote in my journal just minutes before attending a performance of The Quiet Volume. I also wrote that my goal for this trip was to experience the city in small but meaningful ways. To notice the details.

While reading "Taking Play Seriously" by Robin Marantz Henig, I started to become very frustrated. The psychologists in this article were taking all the fun out of playing.

I plan on majoring in Psychology, so at first I was very intrigued about the motivations behind playing. But as I realized that the psychologists were zooming-in so close and nit-pickingat every small detail, so much so that playing no longer resembled playing, I stopped wanting to read the article. I know that when it comes to psychology, if there's a behavior there's always going to be someone investigating the why. But trying to place a definition on an act that is so innnate and child-centered seeems to detract from the very nature of the word. Playing is playing. It's having fun and exploring what's around you. It's done for the exact reasons it appears to be done- to socialize, stretch the imagination, and, most importantly, because it makes people happy.

Sometimes I wish psychologists could just let some things be. I'd rather not know the chemicals involved in love or the steps involved in grieving. Some actions and emotions are just natural and they make us who we are. So please, don't take play too seriously. 

Samantha Plate

Play In The City

09/07/2013

Is The City My Home?

When asked where I live I often tell people “I live just outside of Philly.” Philadelphia is a well-known city and it is easier to pinpoint than my small town of Holland. But in reality, I have no real claim to Philadelphia. I feel like a tourist in my own “home town”. In fact, my friends and I took a sight-seeing trip to Philadelphia this summer. We did all the touristy things: we took the Big Bus Tour, ran up the Rocky steps, visited the LOVE statue and went to museums. It was then that I realized I had only been to Philadelphia a few times in my life and I had never really experienced it. I couldn’t really call this city my home.

I had a very vague impression about my city when I was younger. I spent most of my time in the neighborhood area with my peers, and my whole world was around those little corners: the grassland in front of our apartment, a little candy shop across the street, grandpa’s bike, and little toys got from KFC. When the holiday came up, my parents would take me downtown, for a good restaurant, a reward from the mall’s showcase, or a crowded festival that could fill a child’s eyes with happiness.

Then I turned five, my family decided to send me to an elementary school downtown, where I got closer to “the city”.

That time the city is a small city, a place known for spicy food, beautiful weather, old museums and tea houses. Cars are not widely affordable; people wander from streets to streets, if getting tired, they would stop by a tea house and have a rest.  Sometimes I would peep from my classroom on 3rd floor, where I see a glance of “city”. The center of the city locates two blocks away from my school, which is a square surrounded by a sports center and a few shopping centers, crowded with people from inside and outside. Everyone looks forth to their destination, with a either desperate or hopeful anticipation, and therefore moves along. The old buildings, the tea houses, and the sparkling traffic lights filled my 6 years.

And it changes rapidly as the time passes.

Hello ladies! My name is Samantha Plate and I'm excited to explore the wonderful city of Philadelphia with you.

My avatar is a picture of me and my friends on a train track. Not too exciting- but the day holds special memories for me.

After our last day of finals this year my friends and I spent the day together, creating memories that will last a lifetime. We had brunch together and then drove to a place called Carousel Gardens where we took tons of fun pictures. The grounds are picturesque and we played on an old tractor that was there. We then ventured to an abandoned train down the road. We took pictures and explored as much of the train as we were able to access.

For the most part, I would hardly call the people in my picture my friends.  I knew them for one or two years at most as they passed through the theatre program at my high school, but I rarely got to know more about them than their names and vague impressions of their personalities.  Still, for every back turned and face blurred in that picture, I could tell you a story about that five minutes in two years that I got the chance to talk to them.  That five minutes has left a lasting impression on my memory.  Moreover, I could tell you about this moment in the picture when the entire room was silent, and each of us closed our eyes while our fellow cast-members surrounded us.  The exercise was simple: match the breathing of the person next to you.  After it ended, I went backstage with the realization that I could trust the people around me.  In an existence marked by fleeting relationships and unknown people, this was a moment when everything stood still, and I did not have a single doubt in my mind about anyone in the room.