Imagination. Connection. Personal Expression. Fun.
Conceived in the pre-pandemic world, The Shape of Play has taken on new importance in a city full of padlocked play spaces and heightened awareness that not all people experience freedom equally.
Inspired by the beauty, form, function, and simplicity of everyday play structures, The Shape of Play fuses an ambient multi-channel soundtrack with a colorful and architectural sculpture evocative of children’s wooden building blocks. Using tones, textures, shapes, and rhythms, it conjures the playfulness, nostalgia, and life-affirming experiences that we often imagine when we think about our neighborhood playgrounds.
Played through speakers embedded in the sculpture, the multi-channel soundscape is at points whimsical, energetic, buoyant, and ethereal. Created by the artist using structures and play equipment at Boston-area playgrounds as the instrument, this dynamic auditory experience offers us moments of respite and delight, creates a communal experience through shared listening, and reminds us of the freedom we all deserve to express ourselves with joy and abandon.
Sited in Waterfront Park in Boston’s historic North End The Shape of Play will be installed a short distance from both the public playground located at the northern corner of the park as well as the main walkways and roads that bring people from the Harbor toward the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the entry to downtown Boston. The park itself, also known as Christopher Columbus park, is one subject of recent local debates about the racist roots of most public memorials and monuments. Originally inhabited and stewarded by the people of the Massachusetts tribe, Waterfront Park and the City of Boston are manifestations of a violent and exclusionary colonial system that stole freedom from many people over hundreds of years.
As The Shape of Play seeks to explore themes of freedom we must also acknowledge the deliberate and systemic oppression that has created the built environment where this project will be installed. Along with the presentation of the artwork, Now + There will be holding space for public conversation and providing writing and other content exploring the centuries-long history of the site and the events, policies, and attitudes that have created the park we see today.
It’s time to reevaluate where we are as a society. Before we imagine bold new futures, we need to completely reinterpret our reality. We need to be both optimistic and pragmatic which is why Now + There’s curatorial theme for 2021 is: The Way We Could Be: A Year of Reinterpreting.