Featured posts
News & Events
From Biel with love
When I came home from the Pro Juventute play festival a few weeks ago, my head was full of impressions, thoughts and ideas – as it always happens after participating in lovely play events. I was particularly struck by the “Playable Esplanade”, where so much joyous play took place.
Knowledge & Reflection
The Play Deficit
CounterPlay has always been interested in playfulness all over society and the world; everywhere. https://twitter.com/mathiaspoulsen/status/606762019245682688 We want to go beyond games, beyond play as an activity, also exploring the meaning of being playful. We want...
Society & Politics
Struggling in a ROI Society
I gave a talk at “Spilbar” at the National Film School of Denmark yesterday titled ”‘I’m just playing'; the radical act of expecting nothing in return” (follow link for my presentation), where I made an attempt to connect some of the thoughts and questions...
About CounterPlay
Designing CounterPlay
This post is an attempt to capture the essence of CounterPlay, the principles underlying the festival and the connection to play. Part of it is a description of what we have been doing since the beginning, while part of it remains more of an ideal for our future work.
Recent posts
#cplaydk: The Power of Play
On November 9th, 2016, we hosted the first #cplaydk chat on Twitter, where we discussed "the power of play". A nice group of people joined us, we had some great conversations, and we'll be doing this every other Wednesday from 8-9 PM Central European Time. Just tune...
The Future of CounterPlay
Reflections on the past, present and (especially) future of CounterPlay. What are we working on and what is our dreams and visions? (Hint: it’s got something to do with play)
A Playful Wonderland
Sweet memories from the most playful summer camp and an interview with Morten Skrubbeltrang and Ane Schjødt Koch, two of the architects behind.
Three Things that Play can do in a University (or indeed anywhere) Part 3: Focus
In the first of this series of 3 blogs I identified 3 things that play can do to help bring university students to a place where they are ready to learn: Play can help people bond with each other; to relax in each other’s company Play can energise and awaken people...
Three Things that Play can do in a University (or indeed anywhere) Part 2: Energising and Awakening
In my previous blog I identified 3 things that play can do to help bring university students to a place where they are ready to learn: Play can help people bond with each other; to relax in each other’s company Play can energise and awaken people Play can focus people...
Three Things that Play can do in a University (or indeed anywhere) Part 1: Bonding
Counterplay was a brilliant experience for me in so many ways, and made a big difference to how I approach things both as an artist and a teacher. I’m going to focus in a series of 3 short blogs on some ways it has affected my teaching and inspired me to share these...
Article: Floating castles, Legos, Candy, and Play: Counterplay 2016
Megan Lotts, who is an art librarian at Rutgers University Libraries, has written a wonderful article, describing and reflecting upon how she experienced CounterPlay ’16.
Fun, trust and playfulness at work – is that actually allowed?
Is it supposed to be FUN to work? If I had FUN would I be doing my work seriously enough? Would I be concentrated while having FUN? Would I be ambitious enough if I said “YES, I am having FUN!”?
The Problem with Playgrounds
The idea about the playground is a wonderful thing. It shows that we care so much about play that we design spaces to create the best possible conditions for play to thrive. Playgrounds are, in principle, a love letter to play. At the same time, many playgrounds are...
Play as Participation
While it may seem trivial to say that play is about participation, it might not be that straightforward. To truly participate is to have some degree of power, and the same goes for play.