Computer Science Geek
The Fall
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
— George Bernard Shaw
Play, dear friends, is a serious matter.
I could point you to a hundred and two scholarly articles about its psychological benefits. People have dedicated entire careers to quantifying its effect on wellness and mental health and problem-solving. There are books, dozens of ’em, about how the act of play can shake loose one’s creativity. You can do it any way you like — goal-oriented, experimental, free-form, arty-farty, or just plain silly — and it all still counts. I could yammer at you about the Jungian archetype of Child, and its importance; I could remind you that although we might be growing older, we know full well that few of us have truly grown up, nor want to.
But you already know all that, don’t you? Even if you haven’t played in weeks (or, worse, years), I’ll bet something in you longs for it.
Frankly, I’m envious of the lady in this image, who had — no, made — time to visit this art installation and send some Slinkies twirling merrily down the stairs. Even at this angle, we can see her smiling.
It’s a complicated setup, no doubt; but don’t let it fool you. The point is the pleasure, pure and simple. It was surely a pleasure for the artists to create, and it’s obviously a pleasure to interact with. And we all deserve some of that joy.
(The installation: The Fall, by Gillian Turnham and Hartley Stephenson. It’s part of Erring On the Mount, a multidisciplinary arts festival, which recently occurred at the Mount Community Centre in Peterborough, Ontario.)
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Jenn Wilson and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
