PLAY SCULPTURES

2013

 

Painted steel and inkjet print,
dimensions variable

 

Sofie Thorsen’s spatial installation in the tresor is based on the aesthetic phenomenon of play sculptures, sculptural toys for children designed by artists, which in the post-war years played an important role in discussions on architecture and urbanism. Originating in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, ideas on experimental “play environments” spread abroad, testifying to a revaluation of the creative power of play. In Vienna, too, play sculptures were created for communal residential building developments as part of a large-scale “Kunst-am-Bau” (“percent for art”) programme; its abstract vocabulary of forms and colours introducing a Utopian dynamic into the triste architecture of the reconstruction years. The marginalised area between art and design for children proved to be a paradigmatic field of experimentation in realising the avant-garde demand for a change of life through art. […] READ MORE

Heike Eipeldauer

 

 

EXHIBITIONS

 

IG 383 AND THE PLAY SCULPTURES
Overgaden. Institute of Contemporary Art Copenhagen
09.02 – 14.07.2013
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Sofie Thorsen – Spielplastiken
Tresor Kunstforum Wien, Vienna
23.05.2013 – 14.07.2013

 

Social Design
Emil Filla Gallery, Ústí nad Labem
17.10. 2013 – 20.11. 2013

 

Installation view: Social Design, Emil Filla Gallery, Usti nad Labem