Last week was the first one back in the normal format after a brief and eventful hiatus, and we were bought gently back to Playground reality through our dreams care of Peter. (Which Stav, Tim and I greatly appreciated as we were somewhat hazy on and confused by normal proceedings.)
…the game, the game – right. Consequences. Can’t go wrong…
Peter came to share his toys, asking us to identify from a series of images which had something – a sensation or an idea – that was recognisable to us in dreams. The images spanned pastoral, epic, and artificial landscapes, figures and creatures from the strange to the familiar, as well as the much more abstract, like patterns and colours.
Peter will be using this material, raked out from our subconscious, to see whether there are more common dream images, and what that says about the imagination.
He did all of this whilst wearing a magnificent coat (not Donovan’s, his was rubbish), with silky soft landscapes that repeated in a milky background. Add that to the dream cards Peter, it was sublime.
Then we had an Instant Noodle from Jeannie, artist in residence at Magdalen Road Studios. Some of you may remember Claudia’s great felt-tip- and- building-plan- possibilities presentation in June, when she asked us to imagine what we would do if we had the Filament 14 space for a few months. Jeannie now occupies that space, except it has a few more dimensions than the one Claudia got us to draw on. Jeannie exhibited in last years’ OVADA run Christmas Light Night show at the town hall, with re-formed shredded paper, compacted onto a table top.
Jeannie told us what she will be doing with her time in Filament 14, and invited all of Oxford to come and have a look see at what she’s up to on Magdalen Road.
Next up was Stav, Tim and I, the Uncooked. We have been wanting to re-introduce the SEEDS for a wee while, and decided that fresh off the back of the Open Doors melting pot was the perfect moment. Cast your minds back to another, earlier time , when the Playmasters set up a skills exchange. The exchange was symbolised by a domino, a token that would be passed on as a skill was offered or sought.
We wanted to make this part of the monthly pie, and to sharpen it as an idea. So we are seeking your input… For those of you who can’t quite get back to that specific part of the past, and who missed the more recent past of last week’s Playground, let me recap: you offer a skill out to the group, which can be called in when needed by another; when you need something, you can call it in from someone else. You don’t have to have the two parts together – you can still offer something out without needing anything at the same time. The exchange also does not have to be direct – i.e. you do not have to receive a skill back from the same person you shared your skill with. The idea is to establish a co-operative, a resource of people with all sorts of know-how, magic, voodoo, and stolen goods that can be put to use by others.
We suggest that at each month’s event, we write down something we need and / or something we offer; this will be then been photographed and uploaded here on the blog. We would like to get documentation of the things people have done together, projects completed, things created…
Thoughts / suggestions on a postcard please.
More Instant Noodles – let’s face it, one sitting is never enough – this time from Malcolm. He introduced ‘Play the World’s Music: a music course for all abilities‘ taking place every Saturday, 2- 4, at the Old Fire Station.
A short break, a few beers, and we were back….
Whatever semblance of normality we had managed to bring back was shot away as Dimitri took us to the edge of the known universe, possibly beyond, via a kaftan, some gold, and some warpy sounds. And some Sun Ra poetry.
It speaks for itself.
So who knows what will happen next time.
*Video to follow soon*
Playground 