The modernity that came with the post-war period and dominated the second half of the 20th century, looked kindly at the concept of Play. Play was widely seen as a valuable tool for the development of children and for the prevention of delinquency.

In our time, there has been a resurgence of interest in the use of Play as a factor in the planning of community, social environments and interfaces that promote life quality and growing of creative and responsible citizens.

For Johan Huizinga, the dutch historian, we say that a civilisation becomes more serious as it becomes structurally more complex and sophisticated. This is when contact with PLAY is completely lost.

To help me better understand the importance of Play in design I invited Marta Rios. A  recently graduated designer from the Social Design master's program at the Design Academy Eindhoven with a work that balances between design and comedy. I also invited designer, artist and curator Erik Kessels to help me understand how Play can help us look differently at things.

Concept, edition, texts and mixing: André Cruz

Music: Pedro Geraldes

©2021 Porto Design Biennale