EXHIBITION DESIGN
Title Passatempos para aprender a perder tempo (Pastimes to Learn How to Waste Time]
Client SESC Avenida Paulista, 2022
Pastimes to Learn How to Waste Time was an interactive exhibition idealized by artists Dani Shirozono and Marcela Monteiro that questions our relationship with time. It was installed on the 4th floor of the SESC Paulista building for the month of July 2022 as part of a seasonal festival.
The work questions: in a world obsessed with productivity, what would happen if we learned to let time go? It can feel like simple things such as contemplating without haste, creating without commitment and enjoying the moment are disappearing from our society. Playing – something that comes naturally to any child – has the ability to bring all of that back to life. The only purpose of play is play itself and it is from this concept that the project was born.
By subverting the codes of widely known puzzles such as crosswords, word search, sudoku etc., the idea was to lead the public to reflect in a playful way on our relationship with time and increase our commitment to the imagination.
The work questions: in a world obsessed with productivity, what would happen if we learned to let time go? It can feel like simple things such as contemplating without haste, creating without commitment and enjoying the moment are disappearing from our society. Playing – something that comes naturally to any child – has the ability to bring all of that back to life. The only purpose of play is play itself and it is from this concept that the project was born.
By subverting the codes of widely known puzzles such as crosswords, word search, sudoku etc., the idea was to lead the public to reflect in a playful way on our relationship with time and increase our commitment to the imagination.
I was brought into this project by Dani and Marcela to design the games that they were conceptualizing for the glass panels of the exhibit as well as the accompanying booklet.
I was responsible for creating a cohesive identity for the games and designing them to work over the busy backgrounds of the workshops and in a somewhat narrow hallway. It was also of prime importance to exhibit them in a way that would make playing and writing on the glass accessible to people of varying heights, adults and children alike.
Though we were able to predict much of how the public would solve these puzzles, many solutions were totally new to us and it was surprising to see how people of all ages engaged in play.
I was responsible for creating a cohesive identity for the games and designing them to work over the busy backgrounds of the workshops and in a somewhat narrow hallway. It was also of prime importance to exhibit them in a way that would make playing and writing on the glass accessible to people of varying heights, adults and children alike.
Though we were able to predict much of how the public would solve these puzzles, many solutions were totally new to us and it was surprising to see how people of all ages engaged in play.
Concept Dani Shirozono and Marcela Monteiro
Typeface Elza (Blackletra)Photos Anne Karr
