The distinction between toys and games is built into grammar itself: one plays games but plays with toys. Although some thinkers have recognized the importance of the distinction, their insights are often contradictory and vague, and the word toy is used unsystematically to refer to a wide range of objects and associated play-activities. To remedy this problem a phenomenological approach to play could be helpful, but those that exist rarely discuss the difference between forms of play, instead using playfulness as (...) ambiguous shorthand for freedom from rules. Beginning with Charles Baudelaire’s 1853 essay, “The Philosophy of Toys,” the author surveys and synthesizes various theories of toys to produce a detailed account of those objects that conduce to toy-play, focusing on insignificance as the defining phenomenological quality of toys. He then uses speech act theory to offer a definition of a toy—an invitation to play with its identity—and explores how the existence of such an invitation depends not only on the intrinsic qualities of the object of play, but also its context and the identity of the player. (shrink)

In the course of the twentieth century natural sciences became an integral part not only of the industrial production but also of the semiotics of audio-visual and literary cultures. In the absence of legitimating traditions the techno-scientific models and relations appear to be a readily available habitual source of creative dynamics. Yet this domination contains a paradox. The application of analogy in, for example, visual culture does not work the same way as in mathematics. In the latter when a relation (...) between two points is known it is always possible to assign to a third point its counterpart exactly. In the former it is only the potentiality of the fourth point that analogy can offer. To make the analogy work an onto-poetic step is needed. Repeated applications of such steps detach the model from the original source. The model re-emerges as pata-physics, in its new re-coded art form and territory of application. Models of, for example, atoms, rainbows, meteors, automatons, radiation, entropy, quantum effects, astro-catastrophic singularity, fractals, etc. find their way into literature and arts. This results in new divisions of space and time that in turn determine the shape of archetypal icons through which contemporary meanings are communicated and actualized. (shrink)

Architectural space has some triggers for unique experiences and one of them is its atmosphere. The atmosphere has an unstable structure so that it is difficult to define clearly. We are capable of immediate appreciation, such as being inside or outside. Thus, the threshold between bodily experiences and mental emergence becomes a blurred one, like a haze. It is sensed in bodily presence by human beings. The boundaries, such as subject and object, are transgressed through the atmosphere. The subject appears (...) as a body and its movement in this discussion. Recognition of the existence of the body in space plays a significant role throughout the architectural design process. Theatrical dance or dance theatre (Tanztheater) practices provide new horizons for understanding the presence of the body in the space. Pina Bausch, as a choreographer, is one of the pioneers of this genre. The aim of the study is to point out the relations of body, space and atmosphere in Pina movie (2011). This study identifies choreographies with different aspects as follows: (1) In the atmospheric aspect; subject, object and their role in the atmosphere of choreographies by Pina Bausch were observed. (2) In the fictional space aspect; various spaces were examined in the sense of body-object-atmosphere interaction. (3) In the bodily aspect; space which is produced by the body and vice versa in dance theatre was investigated in the volumetric reflections of the body. This research contributes to bridging performative arts and architecture as understanding the space. It can be a guide for an architectural design studio to understand the role of the body through dance theatre. (shrink)