Architects at Play

Past

Photo of a playground — © Pierre Antoine

This event ran from 18.10.2019 to 09.02.2020. But wait, there's always more at Kanal! Check out the calendar.

Architects at Play is the result of a research process into play and the imagination, built experiments and mythological narratives. The exhibition is essentially centred on the idea of ‘Creating Worlds’. It attempts to bring together two characters: the architect and the child.

Of course, the exhibition is also a clear invitation for children to... play! It presents several ways to do so: a slide, a sandbox, a rock to climb on, a tower to hide in, a small theatre... Through playing both children and their parents will grasp the exhibition’s content in a slightly different manner.

Date: 18.10.2019 — 09.02.2020
Type: Exhibition Architecture
Location: CIVA, Rue de l'Ermitage 55, 1050 Brussels

Children’s games have always been a breeding ground for the invention of ‘Worlds’. Likewise, architects also imagine new ‘Worlds’. These worlds and the mechanisms of invention they rely upon constitute the core of the exhibition, which touches on themes as varied as childhood and education, urban planning, public space, history, architecture, art and creativity—in order to trace the history of imaginary as well as imagined ‘Worlds’. Each one of us is a playful architect. From the solitary hut to the cosmopolitan ark, we build worlds we inhabit or co-inhabit. The world of play is located in the mysterious interval that connects our subjectivities to external reality. It sometimes happens that architectures crystallize in this ephemeral space, becoming for a while the stage of our lives, the horizon of our habits. This power of imagination is at the heart of the curatorial system in which childhood playgrounds and those of architects, artists and designers meet.

Atelier De Visscher & Vincentelli, Jozef Legrand, Parc Saint-François à Saint-Josse-Ten-Noode / Sint-Franciscuspark in Sint-Joost-ten-Node, 2007 © Photo / Foto Marie-Françoise Plissart
René Pechère, Place Tomberg à Woluwe-Saint-Lambert / Tombergplein in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe, 1964 ca © Musée de Woluwe-Saint-Lambert