The Playground in Feminist and Decolonial Thought – Lecture

Oslo Architecture Triennale 
2 October, 2019, 16:00 – 18:00
ROM for kunst og arkitektur, Maridalsveien 3, Oslo
Organiser ROM and Oslo National Academy of the Arts

With the general neoliberalization of life all work and no play has shifted to all play is work. Given the Oslo Triennale’s radical suggestion of linking new forms of play to the concept of degrowth, it is of interest to reflect on how taking back play can, our could, be a viable form of resistance against the biopolitical paradigm of neoliberal capitalism and its exhausting 24/7 ideology.

Historically, the playground developed as a pedagogical site not merely dedicated to children’s play, but much rather teaching children the right way of playing. This lecture focuses on uses of the playground in both literal and figurative terms. Who’s taking the children to the playground while parents are at work? Which parts of the world are considered their playground by those who are in power? How can we start envisioning or dreaming new forms of play given the historically gendered and racialized ideas of the playground?