by Alfred de Locatelli
Docente di Modellistica all’Accademia di Brera a Milano

Ludens Mobile

Moving object in play

This theme or lemma aims to create a mobile-game or a mobile with a game function. that is a game, in all its possible forms. Finding a solution is also a game.

And as you will discover, it is one of those vast and surprising territories. “One can, in short, call the game a free action: one that is aware of not being taken “seriously” and that is situated outside the usual life, but that can nevertheless totally possess the player; an action to which no material interest is attached, from which no advantage is derived, that is carried out within a purposely defined time and space, that takes place in an orderly manner according to given rules, and that arouses social relations that easily surround themselves with mystery or accentuate their diversity from the usual world by means of disguise. (Alongside Homo Faber we discover with Huizinga the Homo Ludens, Einaudi, Turin, 2002). In our eyes, homo ludens lives a life without purpose. Because play is beyond our reach, we have consigned ourselves to a life of aimless labour. Our destiny is to toil like Sisyphus John Gray. To realise our work, we could think of working on an existing game like chess.

Which of the many shapes given to a chessboard would be interesting? Which of these would we choose to characterise our artefact? Another way is to work on technique or technology. The work moves or changes appearance or function. Another building block of a work is the idea that works on communication, that interacts with the user.
To scare you, it puts you in the wardrobe.
Our theme moves by encountering chance, real or presumed. Rules are fascinating, they construct time, or give it a limit. The intense pleasure of the game comes from the closure in the rule. The aim is to have fun, as well as to analyse, to ironise, to create a strategy.