Artist's Playground, Sudely Castle, 2008

The theme of last's years outdoor sculpture exhibition at Sudely Castle in the U.K. was play.

Some of the installations are of no relevance (Dripping plastic skeleton figure in a tree? Not. Playful.) but others have some new ideas...

Several of the pieces focused on reflectance, a material attribute I wish I saw more in playspaces. Jeppe Hein's 'Mirror Labyrinth' would definitely be fun on a playground, as would Arik Levy's 'Moon Tables', though finger smudges would have to be tolerated.






Henry Krokatsis reproduced the pulpit from the chapel on the Castle's grounds as a treehouse. Since pulpits are a place for 'vocalizing' it made me think of the delight of having a shouting spot (preferably elevated, like this one) on the playground.



James Hopkins made a bottle containing lenses and mirrors to give a kaleidoscopic view of the surroundings (how much do I want to see lenses used on the playground? Alot.)




and Carston Holler (he of the gigantic slides at the Tate Modern) contributed a flying machine.



Oh, and Zaha Hadid made a slide, but it looked just like her shoes/sofas/faucets/buildings and wasn't very interesting.
[Thanks, Fawn!]