Unfoldings

Abstract

Huizinga's analysis of play, described in his text Homo Ludens, is compared to the creative process in art-making and to the creative response of the viewer. The play process is examined through questionnaire responses and observations made during an evening of experimental play. Huizinga's assertion that play is not a factor in the plastic arts is challenged. Refutations and counterexamples drawn from the history of art since the Renaissance show that play is indeed a factor. The artistic movements cited are those which provide examples of works having either particularly playful or particularly mathematical content, or both, including Anamorphic painting; Dada; Bauhaus; Neo-Plasticism; Concrete Art; Op Art; Fluxus; and Kinetic Art. Special attention is given to the works of Alexander Calder, George Rickey, and Yaacov Agam. The author describes a personal iconography, and introduces the geometric foundation of her sculptural works, which derive from the geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller's "vector-equilibrium jitterbug." Descriptions, photographs, and drawings are included for the author's Thesis Project, comprising several kinetic, manipulatable jitterbug sculptures.