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Plasticity v2 . critical design studio

playthings and playscapes

User: Do you have eyes?
AI: What do you think?
User: No.
AI: You're right. I'm not a woman.

#1. the propensity of a material to undergo permanent deformation under load

#2. the capability of being molded, receiving shape, or being made to assume a desired form

#3. the ability to retain a shape attained by pressure deformation

#4.the capacity of organisms with the same genotype to vary in developmental pattern, in phenotype, or in behavior according to varying environmental conditions

#5.the capacity for continuous alteration of the neural pathways and synapses of the living brain and nervous system in response to experience or injury

Playthings and playscapes deny fitting into pre-defined templates in means of form, material, scale, function, mechanism, colour and over historical, cultural, social, economic, political, ideological, technological criteria. Anything could be/is a toy. For that reason, defining and designing toys is an endless effort if not unnecessary. Playthings and playscapes contain peculiar information about the states of humankind.This studio aims for the evaluation and design of playthings and playscapes in their broadest sense, not as products but as concepts.They reveal their genuine possibilities of form and function when we assess them critically as artefacts initiating play behaviour, instead of specific archetypes. Defining the design needs not merely from a pragmatic perspective, enables the designer to escape from categorical/paradigmatic congestions, thus by eluding the conventional rituals and uncomplicated formulas of professionalism, the physical and mental space of a more unique and unconstrained design activity could be expanded.

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