The platform developed during 6 weeks site-specific installations and performances creating a narrative in the city of Chongqing.

Homo Ludens‭ / ‬The playful man

“Man is only fully human when he plays” Friedrich Schiller.

Hence several things to say about seven artists from Belgium and China being “homo ludens” or playful men (homo ludens, Johan Huizinga, 1938).

Although the act of playing preceded culture, the role of the 'player' in culture is the subject matter we are interested in. Playing is based on rules, but when rules already exist, players haven't the right to reconstruct or change them. The essence of the player's role lies in his participation. For the city's public space in which the player lives determines the guiding rules, that is to say, urban life, urban tradition, urban landscape, urban ideology and so forth. When artists interfere with the accepted attitudes and try to speak out or make opposing claims, this process opens the role of play to a form of improvisation. Thus, how does one play? It should be said that playing is different from being involved in a game in which there must be a winner and a loser. The difference lies in the artist's intervention, in his performance as a player. His choice of intervention and performance, given the existing rules, is the element which can bring brilliance to the game. The theme conveyed by artists is commonplace. However, if the essence of play is to be changed, this can be arrived at by changing the players, in which case the situation opens up various avenues.

The art of Jonathan Sullam, Tom Hillewaere, Pacome Beru and Orfée Grandhomme aims to create a canvas for highlighting the city's specificities.  Ismael  Bennani  interro-gates the relationship between the urban public space and the personal domain; in Cheng Yizhong's video, the performance has an effect on civilian city life, while Ren Qian researches the aftermath of the crash between consumer's life and art. It is perhaps over-simplified to summarize these artists' philosophical concepts and ideas, but if whilst attempting to explain to audiences they fail to understand, well…
The show must go on.

Ju Xiaowen