By Ray Edgar
As modernism took hold in the 1950s and 鈥60s, industrialisation infiltrated the playground. Concrete was one response. Steel and plastics were another. For Burkhalter, the Swiss-designed modular play sculpture the Lozziwurm from 1972 is emblematic of the new industrial materials. It also prompts one of the key forms of socialisation 鈥 negotiating with others. There is no one way to travel through the worm. The idea is that kids sort it out.
Risk aversion reached its apotheosis in the 1970s in the US. 鈥淚t made sense at the beginning because playgrounds were so badly maintained that there were a lot of accidents,鈥 says Burkhalter. Today, while all manner of regulations govern community facilities, there is also recognition that safety needn鈥檛 hamper creative play and risk-taking.
Risk is built into artist Mike Hewson鈥檚 controversial Southbank playground Rocks on Wheels. Its ad hoc charm 鈥 part Heath Robinson, part Wile E. Coyote 鈥 looks set to detonate at any time. Its teetery quality encourages risk and creativity as the playground itself looks like it鈥檚 been built by a child.
Artists feature prominently in the exhibition. Burkhalter鈥檚 initial interest in playgrounds was inspired by the heroic dedication of Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi. For more than 30 years, from 1933 to 1966, Noguchi planned a range of playgrounds, from landscapes to sculptural equipment. Most went unrealised. He once recalled pitching his Play Mountain to Robert Moses, New York鈥檚 imperious city planner, who 鈥渏ust laughed his head off and more or less threw us out鈥.