Say “Tag!” and any place on earth will transform into a playground. Objects swiftly loose their original function and meaning, and are altered either into obstacles or hiding components. A trivial object is pointed out to become the “Base”, and is democratically chosen as the centerpiece. The place becomes an experience, one that is defined by the players and not by the architect, designer, or city planner. And while playing the game, new perceptions of the space and place will come into view and size and structure of architecture and objects are actively reconnected to our bodies. Playing “Tag” or “Hide & Seek” is probably the most unpretentious way of exploring the creative potential of any space.
On another level, to hide oneself in a creative way can also be a necessity to find a private moment. Especially now societies are becoming more and more open and public.
This openness forces us to discover and create new kinds of personal shelters. Going out and playing freely is also more difficult nowadays because of over-regulated cities, where each stone is carefully planned and cameras supervise public space. So playing and hiding in the way we would do as children has become more a game of activism than of innocent play.
The project Tag! Base! Hide & Seek is an attempt to explore room for play within a formal institutional setting and to get away from the dogmas of visiting an exhibition in silence and passively following the narrative of the curator. It will encourage visitors to move, act, observe, communicate and connect differently and to set their own rules.
Tag! Base! Hide & Seek is a celebration of the individual altering the set of rules, leaving tags and traces, and therefore becoming an instant creative. It touches the subject of defined and undefined space in an interactive way and making it a very personal experience.
Collaborating Institutions:
Centre of Contemporary Art in Torun, Polamd (2010-2011)
City Gallery in Tarnow, Poland (2011)
Collaborating artists:
Leonard von Munster, Dinie Besems, Cynthia Hathaway, Guy Keulemans, Yuri Suzuki and Abake, Bartosz Mucha, Eric von Robertson
Co-curator: Agnieska Pindera