Reflection on "Play" Projects

Play

     After presentation day of our first projects, I was really impressed by some of the creativity in the room. All of the projects were fun, which made for an interesting day. I was extremely nervous in presenting mine, and I did not expect there to be a 2 minute time limit.

     The first member of my group to present was Jeff. Jeff asked every body to draw how we see ourselves on large note cards. Then he took the pieces and assembled them onto a tri-fold for display. This was a very fun activity, every one seemed to be enjoying the task. I still feel that the project needed more exploration or learning. I feel like in a project about "play", interaction with other people is very important. It would have been more stimulating if we were asked to draw some one else in the room, but only if we DID NOT know their name. While this might seem like "judging based on appearance", it trains drawing skills by forcing us to draw people who's features we are unfamiliar with. It also would provoke spontaneous interaction by forcing some one to approach new people, thus improving social skills and overall mental health.

     Drew went after Jeff. While Drew's project seemed somewhat unsuccessful during the presentation, he too was unaware of the 2 minute presentation time. I feel his piece would have been very successful if we had done the presentations more "gallery style", letting people wander about and examine the pieces on their own. Drew's piece was a simple cluster of Lego blocks. He glued some of the pieces together though, forcing the viewer to think more critically about how to construct desired shapes. I feel like this was a good example of a game adults can play and enjoy, while having both intellectual merit and visual aesthetics.

      Tom was the last person in my group to present. I feel like the concept of trophies could have been a very good starting point, but I did not entirely understand the concept. Tom sat at a public bench and polished a large collection of thrift-ed trophies while recording himself on camera. By polishing the trophies mostly alone, I did not see the element of "playing" strongly represented. Also, he sat in public, but not a very busy area. The project would have been much more entertaining if Tom were to have pushed harder for a reaction from people. I think taking a negative approach to "play" could have been ingenious, and maybe the trophies could have touched on the idea that kids are rewarded too often these days for unimpressive achievements. As the project is, however, I was not a huge fan. I will say that the end project video was appealing; shining trophies, layer after layer, slowly filling up the camera screen, but the goals of the project at the core was lost in my opinion.