JULIA JAQUETTE
Playground of My Mind is a graphic reminiscence of the modernist playgrounds of
New York City, and their influence on my aesthetics and thinking. The original paintings
on paper were exhibited in 2017 at the Wellin Museum, who also published the
memoir. These playgrounds, of rational and Utopian ideals, were constructed in the
tumultuous setting of 1960s and 70s New York; a chaotic atmosphere but one which
was open to new ideas in architecture and play. Focus is placed on the playgrounds
that I interacted with most: Richard Dattner’s seminal Adventure Playground in Central
Park, an M. Paul Friedberg playground (now destroyed) that was situated in the city
housing I grew up in, and Discovery Play Park, which my father collaborated on,
also located in Central Park. The book makes an argument for the reconsideration of
“Brutalist” architecture (here in it’s most playful and sculptural form), and affinities with
the dutch playgrounds of Aldo van Eyck are delineated. When we play in and around
great design, does it teach us?”
New York City, and their influence on my aesthetics and thinking. The original paintings
on paper were exhibited in 2017 at the Wellin Museum, who also published the
memoir. These playgrounds, of rational and Utopian ideals, were constructed in the
tumultuous setting of 1960s and 70s New York; a chaotic atmosphere but one which
was open to new ideas in architecture and play. Focus is placed on the playgrounds
that I interacted with most: Richard Dattner’s seminal Adventure Playground in Central
Park, an M. Paul Friedberg playground (now destroyed) that was situated in the city
housing I grew up in, and Discovery Play Park, which my father collaborated on,
also located in Central Park. The book makes an argument for the reconsideration of
“Brutalist” architecture (here in it’s most playful and sculptural form), and affinities with
the dutch playgrounds of Aldo van Eyck are delineated. When we play in and around
great design, does it teach us?”
