A week ago I went to The Hague to do a brainstorm with Eveline from PLAY+ART. We’ve just done a very successful project – Galaxy was a shitload of work, but very rewarding. Question now is: how to continue? Walked to the beach at Scheveningen  and had coffee at F.A.S.T. (Free Architecture Surf Terrain). Which  is a surfers hangout on  Scheveningen Boulevard,  located at the best surfing spot in the Netherlands, near the main harbour. And built out of shipping containers. Bracing air and nice environment did the job – brains of E+E really stormed.  Eveline logged the ideas & condensed them into a handy list, from which I am quoting:

Objectives:
– move from target audience ‘kids’ to target audience ‘ adults’
– entice adults to play
– not just behind the front door, but somewhere/anywhere in public space
– be outside a lot ourselves
– sow spontaneity and harvest smiles
– in a country that is over-organised

Steps:
– do pilots
–  if pilots are successful organize a festival
– in the Netherlands/Europe
– a la Figment, Hide & Seek (Play Parade)
– register unobtrusive play moments (film, photos)
– make an ‘ unobtrusive’ exhbition 

Conditions:
– start with piloting small gestures
– do a game/gesture every 4 weeks
– don’t go for grants for the pilots
– re-use the Galaxy stars at least 5 times

How to:
– algorithmic approach
–  incipient play:  we create opportunities and beginnings
– must create attractive images
– use a colour (Yves Klein blue/himmelblau)
– extend, exaggerate, blow out of proportions
– document (photo’s, + film)
– share on social media, blog PLAY+ART, YouTube
– measure the number of smiles
– make postcards to record work and broadcast ideas (like Francis Alys)
– photograph/count/weigh/add up/measure smiles

Where:
– close to musea: museum park Rotterdam, GEM the Hague
– Spuiplein the Hague

Names:
– PoP-up-Play
– Urban Play
– Flash Games
[later: Terreinwinst]

Ideas for games:
– Sell snowballs (re-enactment David Hammons)
– Unguided tours  from Dam Square
– draw poems
– build huts from locally sourced material
– play hide and seek
– tin can stilts
– shuffleboard (a lot of sufflebooards in a street, through Freeby)
– crayoning with artists, big crayons
– drawing people’s contours, make a puzzle
–  exchange stall, exchange with passers-by, make social map this way, attach little cards with stories
– use Galaxy stars as dartboards at museumpark Rotterdam
– huge hop-scotch game with crayons
– Action Weaving
– In nature: color little pools of water dug out at the beach
– make a huge sand drawing with sticks
– adventure search
– play tag
– make music with whatever comes to hand(flashmob)
– play at marbles
– city golf
– measure peoples lenghts/weights/etc
– flashmob at Afskluitdijk