The best inventions are child’s play. Literally. (An article in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica by Giuliano Aluffi, featuring my Toy Theory research. Rough…
toyetic thinking
Historically, and globally, the toy has tended to occupy a material-cultural position between the ritual object and the instrumental tool, neither fully sacred nor…
cover
Out in paperback and open access 5th November 2024
a toy theory of knowledge and belief
excerpt from draft of Toy Theory: technology and imagination in play (out 5th November): The toy […] offers alternative ways of grasping the play…
Crete 3/3: Bronze Age robot
Crete gets a direct mention in Toy Theory through the mythical automaton Talos. Constructed by the smith god Hephaestus, this giant bronze warrior patrolled…
Crete 2/3: ox machine
The second of three posts linking my recent holiday in Crete with themes from Toy Theory. This toy, a clay figure of an ox…
Crete 1/3: the twin timeline of the rattle
The first of three posts linking my recent holiday to Crete with themes from Toy Theory. Toys as technological devices operate through two very…
the machine wants to play
Slideshow sketch of a ludic/media archaeology of AI, A-Life and robotics. Displayed at the University of Southampton AI Arts Festival, 2nd June 2024. Designed…
technology and play
Hot off the press: Playground equipment: postdigital design and the mechanics of history, urban space, and play. Space and Culture 27(2). Open access: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/12063312231213261…
models and plans
I write in Toy Theory that play with construction toy sets (LEGO, Meccano, etc.) “collapses design and construction: the child is at once building…
re-imagining the gallery with AI
A short article on a recent-ish pilot project, Chatbots in the Gallery, in Re:Action, the University of Southampton’s research magazine.
Toy Theory – update
Toy Theory: technology and imagination in play will be out in November. No cover image yet, but here is the draft marketing blurb: A…