Papers by EIRINI KOUMPAROULI
Conference on Architectural Humanities ICAH in February 2021 in Rome, 2021
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Collective Projects by EIRINI KOUMPAROULI
“Between the home and the square: bridging the boundaries of public space” AESOP Thematic Group on Public Spaces and Urban Cultures, School of Architecture AUTH, Thessaloniki, 2021
This study aims to highlight the value of playing as part of the ongoing conflict between the spa... more This study aims to highlight the value of playing as part of the ongoing conflict between the spatial restrictions imposed due to the current health crisis, and the practices inhabitants have adopted to reclaim the city. In particular, the relation between home and square is questioned by focusing on the dynamics of the suspended spatialities (Stavrides, 2010) and the production of potential liminalities of playful encounters.
The COVID-19 pandemic has so far had a great impact on the production of public space and has challenged multifariously the boundaries between public and private spheres. Despite the enforced spatial restrictions, collective actions emerged as a dynamic and claiming reappropriation of the public space. Simultaneously, individuals within this context experiment and produce new forms of living, relate and communicate in a transformative fashion. Therefore, new identities are produced in both private and public space attempting to calm the emerged tension in that dynamic relationship. A crucial form of reclaiming the city as a dynamic synthesis of private and public spatialities is playing.
Playing bridges one’s personal experiences and sentiments with the other and the outside world creatively, effectively, and fruitfully suggesting new forms of social relations (Winnicott,1971). In this context of new unfolding enclosures, areas of the city vital to everyday life are reclaimed through their reappropriation as spaces of play creating a series of “magic circles” in the city (Huizinga,1970).
Recently, various gestures of claiming the city through game mechanisms have been observed such as: the spontaneous volleyball game between students and professors in the courtyard of the National Technical University, the imaginative games for children and adults in squares and parks (e.g. Merkouri Square, Pedio tou Areos Park) occasionally organized locally by neighborhood collectives, as well as the informal playing areas children have produced while formal playgrounds were closed. In a broader perspective, these everyday practices could be perceived as part of a game of ‘hide and seek’ with the state policies and the clearly defined indications of movement (Ingold,2016) regarding the use of public space during the pandemic. Hence, playful encounters of different social groups contain the element of collective ingenuity that is necessary for the city to be inhabited as a field of emancipation possibilities.
Stavrides, S. (2010). Suspended spaces of alterity. Athens: Alexandreia Ed.
Huizinga, J. (1970). Homo Ludens: A study of the play element in culture. London: Maurice Temple Smith Ltd.
Ingold, T. (2016). Lines: A brief history. London: Routledge classics
Winnicott, D. W. (1989). Playing and reality. London: Routledge.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
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Papers by EIRINI KOUMPAROULI
Collective Projects by EIRINI KOUMPAROULI
The COVID-19 pandemic has so far had a great impact on the production of public space and has challenged multifariously the boundaries between public and private spheres. Despite the enforced spatial restrictions, collective actions emerged as a dynamic and claiming reappropriation of the public space. Simultaneously, individuals within this context experiment and produce new forms of living, relate and communicate in a transformative fashion. Therefore, new identities are produced in both private and public space attempting to calm the emerged tension in that dynamic relationship. A crucial form of reclaiming the city as a dynamic synthesis of private and public spatialities is playing.
Playing bridges one’s personal experiences and sentiments with the other and the outside world creatively, effectively, and fruitfully suggesting new forms of social relations (Winnicott,1971). In this context of new unfolding enclosures, areas of the city vital to everyday life are reclaimed through their reappropriation as spaces of play creating a series of “magic circles” in the city (Huizinga,1970).
Recently, various gestures of claiming the city through game mechanisms have been observed such as: the spontaneous volleyball game between students and professors in the courtyard of the National Technical University, the imaginative games for children and adults in squares and parks (e.g. Merkouri Square, Pedio tou Areos Park) occasionally organized locally by neighborhood collectives, as well as the informal playing areas children have produced while formal playgrounds were closed. In a broader perspective, these everyday practices could be perceived as part of a game of ‘hide and seek’ with the state policies and the clearly defined indications of movement (Ingold,2016) regarding the use of public space during the pandemic. Hence, playful encounters of different social groups contain the element of collective ingenuity that is necessary for the city to be inhabited as a field of emancipation possibilities.
Stavrides, S. (2010). Suspended spaces of alterity. Athens: Alexandreia Ed.
Huizinga, J. (1970). Homo Ludens: A study of the play element in culture. London: Maurice Temple Smith Ltd.
Ingold, T. (2016). Lines: A brief history. London: Routledge classics
Winnicott, D. W. (1989). Playing and reality. London: Routledge.
The COVID-19 pandemic has so far had a great impact on the production of public space and has challenged multifariously the boundaries between public and private spheres. Despite the enforced spatial restrictions, collective actions emerged as a dynamic and claiming reappropriation of the public space. Simultaneously, individuals within this context experiment and produce new forms of living, relate and communicate in a transformative fashion. Therefore, new identities are produced in both private and public space attempting to calm the emerged tension in that dynamic relationship. A crucial form of reclaiming the city as a dynamic synthesis of private and public spatialities is playing.
Playing bridges one’s personal experiences and sentiments with the other and the outside world creatively, effectively, and fruitfully suggesting new forms of social relations (Winnicott,1971). In this context of new unfolding enclosures, areas of the city vital to everyday life are reclaimed through their reappropriation as spaces of play creating a series of “magic circles” in the city (Huizinga,1970).
Recently, various gestures of claiming the city through game mechanisms have been observed such as: the spontaneous volleyball game between students and professors in the courtyard of the National Technical University, the imaginative games for children and adults in squares and parks (e.g. Merkouri Square, Pedio tou Areos Park) occasionally organized locally by neighborhood collectives, as well as the informal playing areas children have produced while formal playgrounds were closed. In a broader perspective, these everyday practices could be perceived as part of a game of ‘hide and seek’ with the state policies and the clearly defined indications of movement (Ingold,2016) regarding the use of public space during the pandemic. Hence, playful encounters of different social groups contain the element of collective ingenuity that is necessary for the city to be inhabited as a field of emancipation possibilities.
Stavrides, S. (2010). Suspended spaces of alterity. Athens: Alexandreia Ed.
Huizinga, J. (1970). Homo Ludens: A study of the play element in culture. London: Maurice Temple Smith Ltd.
Ingold, T. (2016). Lines: A brief history. London: Routledge classics
Winnicott, D. W. (1989). Playing and reality. London: Routledge.