The Aesthetic Essence of Play
The “Power of Maddening”
The model of play state[1] is a designer’s answer to the question of what play sate is from the player[2]’s perspective, that is, what exactly the essence of play, the “power of maddening” lies in.
Most of them [the explanations] only deal incidentally with the question of what play is in itself and what it means for the player. They attack play direct with the quantitative methods of experimental science without first paying attention to its profoundly aesthetic quality. As a rule, they leave the primary quality of play as such, virtually untouched. To each and every one of the above “explanations” it might well be objected: “So far so good, but what actually is the fun of playing? Why does the baby crow with pleasure? Why does the gambler lose himself in his passion? Why is a huge crowd roused to frenzy by a football match?” This intensity of, and absorption in, play finds no explanation in biological analysis. Yet in this intensity, this absorption, this power of maddening, lies the very essence, the primordial quality of play. (Huizinga, 1949, p.2)
Veronika Szalai: The model of play state / DLA (Doctor of Liberal Arts) research / supervisors: Pál Koós, professor; Anikó Illés, PhD habil., associate professor // artist: Veronika Szalai / materials of object: copper, iron, neodymium magnet / / media artists: Csanád Szesztay, Bea Pántya / puppet artist: Borbála Egri / date: MOME (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design) DLA 2023
Doctoral dissertation: Play-based activities – The player’s perspective of play state
Masterwork: The model of play state – Abstract dynamic fields of play
learn more about it in english https://veronikaszalai.com/2024/01/17/the-aesthetic-essence-of-play/
[1] The abstract field in the player’s consciousness where the player’s actions take place.
[2] Ego, self