Play on, play with: A practice-based exploration of play in process / Mary Sweetnam (2024)

This project takes a playful, practice-based approach to dive into play and how it contributes to process. In collaboration with a play partner, I developed a play practice. Rooted in play theory, we began from an understanding of play as something that is pleasurable, rigorous, intrinsically motivated, and inherently creative. In the vein of play, the methodology followed an open, emergent process without a prescribed research output. Practices involved mostly improvisation through tasks and games to explore different types of play, relationships as play partners, and structures. We uncovered insights and preferences through a process of trial and error with lots of repetition, refinement, and discussion. The practices developed into a process sharing as part of the Graduate Showcase, featuring a sequence of tasks and games with varied transitions. The space was organized with obstacles to add another layer of play for us as well as to elicit participation from audience. This sharing offered up curiosities around audience interaction. Data collected through discussion, video documentation, and debriefing after the sharing produced insights around humor, responsiveness and risk, and partnership. All these facets contributed to the sustainability and ethos of the practice. Further research could explore the practice of play outside the context of academia or even involve more participants.