Field Experiments held a solo show at Moiety, an independent gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Grounds for Play is part of a continued study into the process of play for making and thinking. Springing from a five-year photographic documentation of New York City playgrounds, it explores the materials, shapes and structures that signify play. The project presented a series of assembled works informed by the design vernacular of the playground. Fuelled by their interest in adhoc making and appropriation, the collective gathered objects and materials common to playgrounds and organised, manipulated, arranged, rearranged, perched, leant, bent, curved, stretched, hoisted, pulled and strung them together. Grounds for Play questions what makes them so engaging for children? And whether it is possible to create a similar design language for adults from unexceptional objects and materials? And what design interventions are needed to transform hard substrates such as cement and metal into playful landscapes? Like the lifeless photographs that inspired the work, the structures are purposefully void of activity drawing the materials and shapes into focus. ---
Field Experiments is a nomadic collective established by U-P founder Paul Marcus Fuog along with Karim Charlebois Zariffa and Benjamin Harrison Bryant. Field Experiments uses collaborative making to explore culture in different regions around the world. The collective creates projects, products and ideas across multiple formats including: furniture, clothing, video, publications, exhibitions, interiors, installation and printed materials.
