Brooklyn, NYC
September 2007- July 2008
The exhibition explored the versatile meanings of “Play,” investigating its history and future as the bedrock of culture; its regenerative power as the creative basis of every discipline and as the spark that ignites the child’s imagination; and its darker role in our entertainment-obsessed culture.
Pahl Hluchan programmed an animation series; Jeanne Liotta programmed a film series and curated work for a monitor located in the alleyway above the front door; and Brooklyn Museum Librarian/Curator of Books Deirdre Lawrence contributed an ongoing slideshow and material from the museum’s collection on games.
Participants:
Rosaire Appel, Gerard Barbot, The Brooklyn Museum Library, Cabinet Magazine, Ted Chafee, Heather Chaplin, Chris Cogburn, Donn Davis, Susan Dunkerley, Joanna Ebenstein, Kristin Eno, Janice Everett, The Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, Marty Greenbaum, Melissa Hensley, Karen Hewitt, Andrew Keating, The Kentler International Drawing Space Satellite Flatfile of Contemporary Prints, Susan Happersett, Halona Hilbertz, Pahl Hluchan, Sharon Horvath, Leslie Kerby, Jenni Knight, Tom La Farge, William Lamson, Jeanne Liotta, Desi Minchillo, David Moore/Bing and Ruth, Jim Osman, Place in History, Shervone Neckles, Debra Pearlman, Alan Rosner, Lance Rutledge, Shirley Sharoff, Sandrine Sheon, Sally Sturman, The Institute For Figuring, Dan Torop, Ugly Duckling Presse, Paulus Van Horne, Vertical Player Repertory, Wendy Walker, Melinda Yale, Christa Wolf Jane Zweibel, 99 Hooker.
The Artistsbook Library: Eileen Arnow-Levine, Carol Barton, Mindy Belloff, Doug Beube, Mark Staff Brandl, Stephanie Brody-Lederman, Catya Plate, Libby Clarke, Lucinda Cobley, Beatrice Coron, Maureen Cummins, Evelyn Eller, Sandra C. Fernandez, Anne Gilman, Geoff Green, Martha Hayden, Bob Heman, Susan Hensel, Kumi Korf, David Lantow, Andre Lee, Jill Mckeown, Veronica Morgan, Florence Neal, Heidi Neilson, Susan Newmark, Sarah Nicholls, Donna Maria deCreeft, Amee Pollack and Laurie Spitz, Purgatory Pie Press – Dikko Faust and Esther Smith, Maddy Rosenberg, Susan Rotolo, Elsie Sampson, Miriam Schaer, Susan Share, Shirley Sharoff, Carolyn Shattuck, Robbin Ami Silverberg, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Micki Watanabe Spiller, April Vollmer, Debra Weier.
Movie of the exhibition:
Play
Play Book
Play Book, in conjunction with the Play exhibition at Proteus Gowanus, is the initial offering of Proteotypes. Beyond a book, not a catalogue, it provides an exploration of creative play for the individual to play along. There are plays on words, playful definitions and a theatrical play as well. A book designed for play and ready to use. It is a collection of artist’
s interpretations and textual configurations on play, ready to cut, fold, paste, and assemble. A match game, a word game, a word maze, a geometric puzzler, paper dolls, an automaton, a miniature card deck, flip book, and toy theater. Images of play, images of games, pages of anagrams, palindromes, and ponderings on the meaning of play with excerpts from Lewis Carroll, and even a complete play by Gertrude Stein. Come play along.