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10 sided circle

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"An art museum that everyone can enjoy. It is a place where you can freely feel, discover, and experience various things with pictures, words, images, and three-dimensional objects."

https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/the-new-interactive-play-museum-in-tokyo-turns-art-into-a-playground-061020

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PLAY! MUSEUM

Everyone from adults to children can enjoy

An art museum that everyone can enjoy. It is a place where you can freely feel, discover, and experience various things with pictures, words, images, and three-dimensional objects. Two exhibitions are held at the same time, a "Annual exhibition" that introduces famous picture book artists for one year and a "special exhibition" that features artists and special themes from a unique perspective. At PLAY! SHOP and PLAY! CAFE, you will find many original products and menus related to the exhibitions.

Special Exhibition
"COJI-COJI EXPO"
2022.4.23-7.10

PLAY! PARK

Encountering the Unknown

PLAY! PARK, which opens in Tachikawa, Tokyo, is not a playground with readymade playground equipment and toys. The theme is "Encountering the Unknown." Architects and creators participate to develop and produce original large-sized playground equipment, which people have never seen nor understood well, and nor known how to play it. Children can think and play for themselves and learn from it.

The venue is divided into seven zones, including "large and small dishes", "factory", "gallery" and "kitchen". In addition to providing large-sized playground equipment, unique programs for manufacturing, food, sound, etc., provide "meeting with the unknown," and a place where adults can enjoy playing with children in a comfortable environment.

VISIT

PLAY!

MUSEUM

042-518-9625

PARK

042-518-9627

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An art museum that everyone can enjoy. It is a place where you can freely feel, discover, and experience various things with pictures, words, images, and three-dimensional objects. Two exhibitions are held at the same time, a "Annual exhibition" that introduces famous picture book artists for one year and a "special exhibition" that features artists and special themes from a unique perspective.

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Physical tests for proposal - Elina

Audio - Lucy, Torran, Elina

Parachute - Amelia, Hannah, Polly

Outdoor games - Hannah, Amelia

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https://roadtrippers.com/magazine/city-museum-st-louis/

City Museum in Saint Louis is a wonderland of scraps and recycled materials that have been transformed into an area of play and exploration for everyone. It encourages people to engage with art the way they engage with nature.

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There is nowhere else in this galaxy quite like St. Louis' City Museum. While it might not be a hidden gem, it is downright remarkable to visit. It's an art museum, made up of components one might find in a history museum, all laid out as a surrealistic adult-friendly playground.

One minute you could be inside a gorgeous sculpture of a giant whale; the next you're crawling through a cave. You might start off in a treehouse, hop down a slide, and wind up in a massive, adult-sized ball pit. Or you can be admiring a room full of priceless opera posters and accidentally wander into an aquarium.

In an attempt to understand the enigma that is City Museum, I set up an interview and tour with Richard Callow. Callow is listed as the media contact on City Museum's website, but he's more like the story keeper of the place, and has been since the founder-famed sculptor and artist Bob Cassilly-died in an accident in 2011.

Callow met Cassilly when Cassilly bought the building Callow was living in. During their first interaction, Cassilly told Callow he planned to make a lot of noise, without giving much context. Cassilly brought in heavy equipment to start work on the museum the next day. Callow has been along for the ride ever since.

An eccentric tour

It's not often that I leave an interview more confused than when I arrived, but the tour I got of City Museum is quite unlike anything I've ever experienced. "Eccentric" is the first word that comes to mind when describing the tour-and the museum itself.

At the start, Callow reminded me that it's called "City Museum"-not " The City Museum"-because it's a museum of many cities, not just one. Components used in the installations include leftover rebar from highways, old facades, airplane fuselages, towers from mansions, gargoyles from Europe, playground equipment, a firetruck, and more. Callow says that there's naturally a lot of St. Louis in here, but almost as much Chicago-and from what I saw, there's plenty of New York City as well.

Callow says the bugs and bones were donated by an employee after getting married. | Photo: Anna Hider

City Museum is part art museum, encouraging kids to engage with art the way they engage with nature. You could also call it a collection of collections, including bugs, taxidermied animals, glass bottles, building facades, marbles, pinball machines-you get the idea.

One of the first things Callow pointed out was a giant block of Missouri granite, suspended by a metal cable. Callow told me that Cassilly originally wanted to put a time-out chair under it, where parents could sit their kids. He followed up with, "Thank God we didn't do that, because it's fallen. Twice."

A place where everything is made up

Callow later told me not to bother fact-checking anything he said, since half of it was made up.

When we stopped to admire an electric chair sitting outside of Beatnik Bob's-a snack bar, pinball machine gallery, and concert venue-I made the mistake of asking if the electric chair was real. "What would you prefer I say, yes or no?" Callow asked. I told him I wanted the truth, and he looked at me for a minute before saying that it was real. I still have no clue whether he was kidding or not.

Other assorted statements Callow made that are of indeterminate truth include that the World's Largest Underwear were once stolen from the museum, and later returned, washed and folded; that workers set the museum's 1924 Wurlitzer Pipe Organ from the Rivoli Theater in New York City on fire days after it was restored; and that Cassilly buried his dog Peewee in an old tower from a mansion that sits outside. The list of similar stories goes on and on.

One thing I know to be true (because this is fact-checkable) is that the building was originally a warehouse for shoes. One of the most popular attractions in the space is the Shoe Shafts, located deep in the heart of the building.

The shafts were once used by warehouse workers to send shoes of various sizes and styles from floors above down to the loading dock. Today, the shafts are used as slides of varying heights (three, five, and 10 stories each).

Slides seem to be a theme in the museum, as there are plenty throughout. Callow mentioned that Cassilly was especially fascinated by gravity. Callow claims that, in honor of Cassilly, they throw pumpkins or small appliances off the roof to mark anniversaries or celebrate special occasions.

The roof is open to City Museum visitors for an extra fee. It contains a small Ferris wheel, a pond, and a 24-foot-tall metal praying mantis you can climb inside, among other oddities. But the most eye-catching feature is the bus that's hanging off the edge.

Putting the bus on the roof was, as the story goes, a spur of the moment decision, but was easy enough to execute. The real problem came when the city caught wind of the bus hanging off the edge of the roof. Callow claims that it was resolved when the city ordered the museum to file for a bus removal permit-which doesn't exist-effectively putting the issue into a permanent legal stalemate. I imagine the numerous safety measures put in to keep the bus secure helped the matter as well.

Callow says that the city of St. Louis likes City Museum. It was an immediate hit when it first opened, and remains world-renowned. It started bringing visitors to a lesser-traveled part of town, and still attracts huge crowds to this day. Nearly a quarter of a million people visit annually, according to numbers from 2017 (for reference, the population of St. Louis is around 318,000).

Another super-popular exhibit is MonstroCity, an outdoor playground built in front of the warehouse. Two airplane fuselages perch, connected by walkways, ladders, stone towers, treehouses, slides, and skinny spiral staircases. There's also a giant ball pit, which Callow claims used to be for amateur boxing. Tucked below the playground is an old cabin that once belonged to Daniel Boone's son. It now serves as a bar.

Kids and adults can climb inside both fuselages. | Photo: Anna Hider

Metal cages surround anything that can be climbed on. | Photo: Anna Hider

There's also the "skateless skatepark," which houses one of the world's largest pencils. It's 76 feet long and fully functioning-even the eraser. Callow told me that a cult had made it for their teacher, and that it was eventually given to the museum. I just assumed that the part about the cult was a joke, but it turned out to be true, making me slightly more open to maybe, possibly believing some of Callow's other tall tales.

A constant work in progress

The museum is never technically done. Right now, they're building their own aquarium, to replace one that recently moved out. A joke Callow repeated was that "Bob never liked anyone else's art." But since Cassilly died, the employees have been putting their own little touches in the new space, like the stunning fish mural on the floor or the octopus wrapped around a doorway.

Callow says the octopus actually only has seven legs. | Photo: Anna Hider

But they're not forgetting about Cassilly, either. The centerpiece of the new aquarium will be the hippo statues Cassilly made for the Central Park Safari Playground in New York City. Molds of the originals still exist in the park, and Callow said the day the statues returned to the museum was an emotional day for everyone.

City Museum only takes up four floors and the roof. The fifth floor of the building is comprised of condos, and the rest of the building is storage. The museum itself has a few tenants-most notably a small shoelace factory and the Everyday Circus, which offers lessons and shows to the public.

The tiny Shoelace Factory on the second floor. | Photo: Anna Hider

The Everyday Circus. Inside, the roof pops up to allow more space for acrobatics. | Photo: Anna Hider

I asked Callow how long he thought it would take to see everything in the museum and he replied, "Oh, years." I don't doubt it. The attention to detail is incredible, and the closer you look at things, the more you see. There are tons of hidden passageways, tunnels, doors, slides, ladders, and even a rock climbing wall for anyone willing to look. Apparently children actually don't get lost as much as you'd expect, since the museum was designed for parents to be able to follow the kids just about anywhere.

But if you or your kid do get lost in the maze of art-good luck finding them. The fact that there are no maps to the place is very intentional, and Callow says that the exit signs exist against Cassilly's wishes. Even so, Callow says: "The only time you see a kid cry here is when it's time for them to leave." After he said it, I couldn't help but notice that I didn't see a single unhappy child.

There's so much to see and do here, but one of the most memorable parts of the tour was standing with Callow, watching the expressions of the visitors-kids and adults alike, playing on the MonstroCity.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if any of the stories I heard were true, because I had a blast. The tour only added to the mythology and mystery, and made me realize City Museum isn't a bunch of artifacts or a list of exhibits to see-it's something special that's meant to be experienced altogether.

If you go

Admission is $16 a person, $21 if you would like to access the roof. On Fridays and Saturdays, City Museum is open until midnight for adults, so discounted "After 5 p.m." tickets are offered on those days. It's suggested to wearing knee pads, since you might want to do some crawling around. Those are available for purchase in the gift shop. Closed-toed shoes are also recommended, and you're welcome to bring a flashlight.

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Welcome to City Museum, an eccentric, immersive wonderland where fact and fiction are one and the same

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There is nowhere else in this galaxy quite like St. Louis' City Museum. While it might not be a hidden gem, it is downright remarkable to visit. It's an art museum, made up of components one might find in a history museum, all laid out as a surrealistic adult-friendly playground.

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https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41471911.amp

Superflex are the group that created the giant swings in the Tate Modern. They feel that they don’t have to explain their work, people will just have a natural urge to play and from this you can learn a lot about your neighbour. They see their work as a distraction from dark aspects of the world so they place some of their installations in places you wouldn’t necessarily expect. They also have a section in the Turbine Hall that feels as if you are walking in a forest, and it smells like a forest too.

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Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall turns into a giant adult playground

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Take a peek at the latest installation to fill the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.

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1 // Using nostalgia evoking activities to create a joyful and thoughtful gallery experience.

2 // Encouraging social connection and inward reflection through shared childhood experiences.

3 // Creating new futures by reflecting on memories from the past.

4 // Using public participation for all ages and backgrounds to generate inclusive realisations.

5 // Stripping back the complexities of adulthood and rekindling child-like curiosity through play.

6 // Approach the art gallery as an active space, where the audience can contribute their voice through creative action and word.

7 // Facilitate honest and open minded conversation and responses, without judgement.

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The Public Art Circuit in Québec City – 8th edition June 26 to October 11, 2021

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The Public Art Circuit in Québec City – 8th edition June 26 to October 11, 2021

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an outdoor public art festival consisting of multiple locations and artists to discover while exploring the city. I liked the idea of multiple pop ups that anyone could stumble upon while wandering the city

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Starting this summer in Québec City, PASSAGES INSOLITES is unveiling a new public art circuit leading to unusual urban wanderings. Let yourself be guided through iconic sites by over twenty artworks dreamt up by contemporary artists from near and far.

From ephemeral installations to incongruous encounters, art spans the city and can pop up on every corner!
Download the Map Programming and interactive Map
The City of Québec and EXMURO arts publics thank their partners: le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, le Conseil des arts du Canada, la biennale OpenArt, l'Assemblée nationale du Québec, le Grand Théâtre de Québec, la Citadelle - Musée Royal 22e Régiment et le Consulat Général de France à Québec.

Untitled, Mark Jenkins, ©Stéphane Bourgeois

Partenaire présentateur

En partenariat avec

EXMURO est soutenu par la Ville de Québec via le Programme vitalité culturelle

et par le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec

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Starting this summer in Québec City, PASSAGES INSOLITES is unveiling a new public art circuit leading to unusual urban wanderings. Let yourself be guided through iconic sites by over twenty artworks dreamt up by contemporary artists from near and far. From ephemeral installations to incongruous encounters, art spans the city and can pop up on every corner!

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a nostalgic art piece primarily using touch and colour - a more sensitive approach to evoke nostalgia and togetherness

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Though Miles Apart is an interactive installation that encourages people to join together through a soft tangible interface. Based on a traditional Chinese melody, Shuidiao Getou, the installation embodies the idea of separation but, though apart, "we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together". Initially, as people enter the area they are considered 'separate' until they sit around the piece. Their presence triggers a variety of visualizations - all of which can only come to fruition when the audience comes together and grasps a cotton ball in their hands, as though using their energy to give light to the project. It creates a meditative immersive environment, where the collective conscious is key in driving the piece.

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Though Miles Apart is an interactive installation that encourages people to join together through a soft tangible interface. Based on a traditional Chinese melody, Shuidiao Getou, the installation embodies the idea of separation but, though apart, "we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together".

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touring pop up installation rooms that encourage nostalgic playfulness through a series of interactive rooms

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An Immersive Pop-Up Experience Inspired By Nostalgia ☁️ 1620 N Wells St Chicago, IL 🌈 Opening AUG 14, 2021

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a sculptural installation in Jerusalem where the artist which merges abstracted art with child-like interactive playfulness

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21 Balançoires Project - Daily Tous Les Jours

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21 Balançoires Project - Daily Tous Les Jours

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an installation that combines play, cooperation and music to produce an inclusive art installation

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Design team Daily Tous Les Jours created a totally fun and interactive installation called '21 Balançoires,' that encourages cooperation. They installed a number of swings, that both lit up and played a tune. The public was welcome and encouraged to come try it out and work together to create a beautiful song.

Each swing played a different pre-recorded sound, some being piano notes and sounds from a xylophone. When all 21 swings were in use and even greater song was created. The two designers behind this lovely concept were Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat. This installation was put in Montreal, Quebec in the Quartier des Spectacles.

The Vimeo video shows just how charming and enchanting the project really was.

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Design team Daily Tous Les Jours created a totally fun and interactive installation called '21 Balançoires,' that encourages cooperation. They installed a number of swings, that both lit up and played a tune. The public was welcome and encouraged to come try it out and work together to create a beautiful song.

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an installation piece which grows as an artwork by inviting the public to place stickers provided into a blank room, bringing colour and life to the room, while also allowing the public to unknowingly become a collective of artists, and therefore a part of the artistic process

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At the start of the project, this room was completely white - white ceiling, white floor, white walls, white furniture. People come in, they are given a sheet of coloured stickers in different sizes, which have been produced specially for the project and in accordance with the artist's specifications; her choice of colour, her choice of finish, and her choice of size. And then everybody is invited to place the stickers anywhere they like in the room, according to any pattern, any idea they have, anything they like they can do with the stickers.

Kusama is best known for her brilliantly coloured dotted surfaces, her installations with blow-ups and her walls covered in brilliant spots. And in her biography, she talks about experiences really of a very young child, almost sort of hallucinogenic experiences, where her vision of landscape and people was clouded by spots. And in her very, very first mature works of art, just after finishing art school in Kyoto, the spot emerges as a pattern in her work. And from that period of time, she comes back to the spot with great regularity, and by the end of the sixties, she is actually painting a landscape, she's painting spots on people's bodies, onto animals, and the spot becomes a very regular motif throughout her work.

It's her way of kind of covering the surface. It's a reflection of her vision, but it's also a way of embracing the whole world in a kind of overall pattern. And the interesting thing about this work in particular is that where she's moved from creating an environment of spots that we passively appreciate or enjoy a walk through, she has now moved on to actually involving the audience in the creation of this dotted, spotted interior.

I think Kusama is now seen alongside people like Murakami or Damien Hirst, or Jeff Koons as a kind of globally branded artist. Her spots are ubiquitous, and they are instantly recognisable. They are on the face of the London tube map at the moment. Everywhere we go we see...to the biennials and triennials across the world, you see big Kusama installations. But what is also important to recognise is she really does fit into art history, and she was there in late Surrealism, she was there at the birth of Pop. She has a relationship to Minimalism, she's a real key practitioner in the beginnings of performance and action art. So she's very much somebody who is an insider, but she was never attached to any one movement for very long, so she's always...also somebody who kind of is an outsider. She moves in and out of the kind of principal avant garde moments of the mid to late twentieth century.

And now she stands beside them, because she has got that status where she is a kind of unique, almost celebrity artist of our era.

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At the start of the project, this room was completely white - white ceiling, white floor, white walls, white furniture. People come in, they are given a sheet of coloured stickers in different sizes, which have been produced specially for the project and in accordance with the artist's specifications; her choice of colour, her choice of finish, and her choice of size.

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some installation art that indices a feeling of nostalgia, with interactive play and experience

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6 Art Installations That Bring Out Your Inner Child

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Research - Chalk  by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla

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Research - Chalk  by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla

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A public art piece which encourages spontaneous physical engagement from the public
- could be used as inspo for childhood games such as hopscotch which are impermanent and can be washed away

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The two Puerto Rico-based artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla have worked together to make captivating artworks. Allora and Calzadilla are known for their interactive art pieces in public, often addressing social and political issues and engaging questions of history, geopolitics, and culture.

Collaborating since 1995, most of their artworks combine video, performances, sound art and elements of sculpture. Their work became known to a broader audience thanks to their participation in the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, representing the US.

One of their recent works is Chalk. Upon entering the art space, giant chalk pieces are waiting for visitors, welcoming them to an engaging and shambolic art experience.

The human-sized chalk sticks are put into a gigantic chalkboard spanning the walls and the floor of art spaces. The duo allowed for spontaneous mark-making. All chalk pieces are 162.5 cm (64′)' long and 54 kg (120 pounds) in weight. The walls are treated with special chalk-friendly paint, and hence you shouldn't be worried about allergies and such. Don't expect a chalkboard to scratch your nails on.

Past exhibitions

Chalk is not a completed project. It has been presented in many cities globally, including Zapopan in Peru, Boston, Paris, Sydney, Mexico and New York. This ongoing project was also installed in the central government square in Lima, Peru, to stand as a part of the 2002 Biennial Iberoamericana. With each iteration, the character of the work shifts in response to the locals, social, and political factors. This way, Chalk creates a social portrait of the current city.

Chalk serves as an excellent way of getting messy in a white cube. Typically, it's in this space where visitors are told to look but not touch. Many people want to see Chal and feel connected to it. Each art space serves as a standpoint for the public. Audiences of all ages can participate and write with the chalk on the walls and floors. This performance transforms the space into an impressive self-expression site.

This unique project provides a platform for the participants to exchange ideas. Therefore, Chalk acts as a social and political portrait of modern society. Chalk creates a sense of communal unity and provides a platform for public expression of different opinions. Removing the chalk out of class and placing it into art spaces stands as a chance for the public to share their ideas and enlighten their foils.
What would you do if you came across human-sized pieces of chalk?

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Allora & Calzadilla's Chalk - What would you do?

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The two Puerto Rico-based artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla have worked together to make captivating artworks. Allora and Calzadilla are known for their interactive art pieces in public, often addressing social and political issues and engaging questions of history, geopolitics, and culture.

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Using nostalgia to create a joyful gallery experience

Encouraging social reconnection through shared childhood experiences

Creating new futures by reflecting on old memories

Using public participation for all ages and backgrounds to generate inclusive realisations

Evoking a childlike curiosity through play