Semi-Open Editorial Meeting: 'Play and Humanity' (森原正希)
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“What ASIBA does seems to involve a lot of ‘play’—it really looks like fun,” an employee at a company that had been observing the second incubation cohort once told me.
When we started the Incubation Program four years ago, we didn’t have some cool, lofty philosophy from the very beginning.Rather, I started it out of a desire to escape the boredom of a realistic future that was creeping up on me, combined with the feeling that working with Nibei might be fun—just like suddenly inviting a friend you’ve just met on a trip. So in that sense, I think there’s no doubt it’s “play.”So, it might look like work but actually be “play,” or it might look like “play” but actually be work.
Hmm, what exactly is the difference between “play” and “work” as they see it, anyway? I get the feeling there’s a hint of envy in their gaze, but it also seems like there might be a touch of contempt, as if we were social misfits. We’re definitely not just going through the motions frivolously just because it’s “play.”If anything, I think we’re playing with quite a serious expression on our faces, using our brains and working up a sweat. Just as when I was a kid and would unintentionally invent new ways to play in the park that made my heart race—and just as those memories have remained stuck in the back of my mind ever since—I feel like there are things that can only be born from play.
That’s why I find myself unable to simply smile and say, “Oh, this is just play!” Since I can’t come up with a good response, I sometimes narrow my eyes and glare at them. I’m sorry for glaring based on my own interpretation—I don’t know what they’re really thinking when they say that.
Still, I get the feeling that this elusive concept of “play”—both the word and the act itself—is something deeply fundamental to human nature, something that actually holds hope, and that we really should all find a way to play more.It’s strange how “play” used to be such a positive word when we were children, yet as we grow into adults, it takes on a negative connotation.
To unravel the mystery of this “play,” we “humans” need to create something on our own(i.e., bringing some form of creative work into the world) and “play,” drawing on our experiences and projects, and as ASIBA, we’d like to establish a new perspective on “play,” which still seems to be looked down upon today.
= Where does play happen?
In ASIBA’s Creative Incubation/League, things really start to take shape not just during the program itself, but especially outside of it—for example, on the nights of retreats, when working alone in silence, or during casual conversations that spark a sudden insight.In fact, I get the feeling that what we call “creativity” doesn’t occur when we’re focused on a specific task, but rather when we’re detached from any specific purpose or meaning. So, “what kind” of places and “where” make such phenomena possible, and “why” does play happen?
= Who plays?
Is “play” equally accessible to all humans? Or is the very ability to play already the result of something—is play made possible by some underlying mechanism? Ultimately, who is able to play, and why?
= Why do we play?
It seems that through play—and consequently within play—animals generate innovations that lead directly to the evolution of their species. Creative activities that appear aimless and wasteful end up leaving something behind. This is somewhat similar for humans, though I feel it’s also a little different.Humans, at the very least, are conscious of being “seen” by others while creating, and they seek to “preserve” their finished works for the future—but where does that impulse come from?
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