Some Definitions
For this research task, I will be basing my reading and assumptions on these definitions for the states described in the title of the task
Flow
The Hungarian author, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, defines the flow state as
“a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”[7]
There are a number of key attributes which are essential elements to this psychological state:
There are clear goals every step of the way.
There is immediate feedback to one’s actions.
There is a balance between challenges and skills.
Action and awareness are merged.
Distractions are excluded from consciousness.
There is no worry of failure.
Self-consciousness disappears.
The sense of time becomes distorted.
The activity becomes an end in itself.
Play
For brevity, I am going to list definitions that are pertinent to the context of this research. According to the Oxford Dictionary [8], "play" is defined as
verb occupy or amuse oneself with some recreation, game, exercise etc.; do this with another; move about in lively or unrestrained manner, touch gently (on);
noun recreation, amusement, esp. as spontaneous activity of children; playing of game, action or manner of this; freedom of movement,space or scope for this; brisk, light or fitful movement;
The Essay
Reading the essay linked in the coursework [9] I spent time going through the points made by the essay's author, highlighting areas and making notes so that could approach this log entry.
At first, I struggled to understand the point the author was trying to make. He sets out a great deal of context before getting to his point. At first, I made the assumption that he was in direct agreement with the psychologists that he was quoting. That play was a "dream state where ... we engage the world directly like a child or animal. Indeed, if you were to take the dictionary's definition at face value, you would think that play is something reserved for children or frivolous uses of an adult's time.
Making a comparison with the act of learning, the author starts to explore the interconnectedness of play and the act of learning. We start to see similarities with the flow state here. There seems to be an overlap with learning, play and skill acquisition. One of the key attributes to achieve flow is enough competence to achieve the task at hand. When one is learning a skill, you are focused a lot on the process itself to get it 'right'. This can be an inhibitor to the state of flow. However, once you have learned a skill the "instinct reasserts itself ... to contribute to the designer's education and practice". It's a paradoxical state wherein the state of flow instinct takes over, but at the same time will in time fade away. It feels like a contradiction, but I started to get where the author was going with it.
One thing I was glad that he addressed is the role of constraint. He describes that "When given an assignment, a designer is supplied with a set of rules that are intended to govern a coherent outcome". But then talks to the truism (at least to the author) that the best innovations come from the acts of antithesis and synthesis. That in order to innovate you must break the rules and still end up with a solution to your problem that still meets the brief. I think it really articulates well the problem I have so far with the unit, and it also empowers me to continue my plans to break the rules as a sense-making technique.
Where I start to disagree with the assertions of Rand is the conflation of 'play' and 'games'. According to Dr Jane McGonigal, a games designer and author
"all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation.
The goal is the specific outcome that players will work to achieve. It focuses their attention and continually orients their participation throughout the game. The goal provides players with a sense of purpose.
The rules place limitations on how players can achieve the goal. By removing or limiting the obvious ways of getting to the goal, the rules push players to explore previously uncharted possibility spaces. They unleash creativity and foster strategic thinking.
The feedback system tells players how close they are to achieving the goal. It can take the form of points, levels, a score, or a progress bar. Or, in its most basic form, the feedback system can be as simple as the players’ knowledge of an objective outcome: “The game is over when . . .” Real-time feedback serves as a promise to the players that the goal is definitely achievable, and it provides motivation to keep playing.
Finally, voluntary participation requires that everyone who is playing the game knowingly and willingly accepts the goal, the rules, and the feedback. Knowingness establishes common ground for multiple people to play together. And the freedom to enter or leave a game at will ensures that intentionally stressful and challenging work is experienced as safe and pleasurable activity. [15]
As to this, I do not see play and a game as being the same thing. More that a game is an escalation of structure. When I kick a ball around it's an enjoyable activity. When I start to attribute constraints it becomes play (and the constraints aid my skill acquisition). When constraints then turn in rules, and I add a goal and feedback system, it becomes a game.
Certainly, a game will (by definition of its voluntary participation) create the conditions for play to continue but you do not have to have a game in order to play. I believe the author supports this when he asserts that "Play, then, is a means to forget the rules if only for a moment, to return to instinct." The author believes that "what is essential is that the designer retains [the memory of forgetting the rules]". This memory then becomes a tool that they can utilise in their work. To remember that they can forget on purpose.
So where I believe that the author and Rand start to align is that they both seem to agree on creating structure in order for play to happen.
Games, Play and Learning
In overly simplistic terms, play makes learning and more effective. Children (human and animal alike) use play in order to learn invaluable life and social skills.
"Play is our natural way of adapting and developing new skills. It is what prepares us for emergence, and keeps us open to serendipity, to new opportunities. It prepares us for ambiguity" - Dr. Stuart Brown [13]
Children do not choose to play (in order to learn), they do it because it is fun. As adults, we are taught to skip this instinctive act and rely on numerous methods, systems and structures in order to try and achieve the same goals. The instinct has turned into processes, and we inevitably forget the reason why we started in the first place. The Danish building block company Lego actually developed its own system to create the conditions in adult work where play is not just useful, but importantly it's socially acceptable:
We indoctrinate our growing children with the idea that play is for children (just look at the dictionary definition!), and that work is serious. There is no place for play at work. Lego subverts this notion with their system called "Serious Play" [13]. There are three core tenets to Serious Play:
It is an intentional gathering to apply the imagination.
It is exploring and preparing, not implementing.
It follows a specific set of rules or language.
Inherent within these tenets are the core attributes of games. What this system does is to create the conditions for play to happen, simple as that. It lets the play itself do the heavy lifting as an effective way of solving problems.
Why is play efficient for learning?
In her book [3], author Sharon Bowman says that there are four areas that human brains respond to (which if utilised then enable better long-term retention of information and skills).
The brain responds to novelty.
The brain responds to contrast.
The brain responds to emotion.
The brain responds to meaning.
The reason that play is an effective and efficient vector for learning is that it fulfils all of these criteria. In fact, it demands it. In the same way, then, play is also an efficient vehicle for achieving flow state (although not the only way).
Bringing this back around to the essay, I posit that the author sees a symbiotic relationship between play and learning. And furthermore, that creatives should develop systems by which they can invoke play (and by extension, achieve a state of flow). In fact, I started to see a circular model at work that could inform creative practice:
I believe this depicts the collective assertion in the essay of a "conjured past" where the experience of play becomes an instinctive inclusion when solving new problems.
Looking at other artists
I found there to be a disconnect in this task between the research into the essay, and the secondary task to look into artists that use play in their process. Based on the definitions we have looked at today, I struggled to see how any of the artists listed specifically used play intentionally in their process. I could definitely see how their work was created through, or at least influenced by processes similar to automatic drawing.
One instance where I could see the use of self-imposed games creating space to play were the poems of Bob Cobbing [6,[16]. Here I can see self-imposed rules he created for himself to impose constraints, wherein he could then play. Some of his other work [5] I found to be odd and not a little disturbing. I couldn't work out if this was derived from the act of play or not. However, through his work, I can see explicitly where his intention first and foremost is the fun derived from the activity itself.
In comparison, I don't really think the work of Hilma af Klint involved play, as such. I do believe that she likely achieved flow state in an instinctive way, relying on what she felt as much as what she chose in order to create her fantastical abstract work.
I don't really see that being the same as play. Again, it feels like there is too much conflation with the flow state and the means to achieve it. Automatic drawing/painting etc. is one way, but I wouldn't call that playing. One can do that activity without fun being the primary goal - which I believe is a defining feature of play.
So what is the intended learning outcome for this task? To discover different ways of achieving a flow state, how to purposefully experiment with your work, playing for the sake of it to inform one's practice? All of the above? Honestly, I am a little confused.
Reflecting on my own process
A strong emerging direction for this unit is how do I approach the spirit of the essay (namely learning to break the rules but still end up where I need to be) in a world that is not designed for brains like mine.
What I have started to draw from this task is that (in my head at least) there are very different distinctions that are important when determining what I want to steal and adapt for my own visual exploration.
I think the most important aspect out of all of this is Flow. In my research, I discovered a study [11] that showed that, for people with ADHD, the state of "Hyperfocus" is a very real, and very impactful state in itself. The study's authors provide a very good description that simplifies and distinguishes the two states. Flow, as most people (including people with ADHD) experience it, can be best described as "shallow flow! whereas hyperfocus is best described as "deep flow". The study also showed that this hyperfocus state is something apparently to ADHD brains.
What it also clarified is that the psychological state had no direct correlation with fun or enjoyment. People with ADHD can hyperfocus on all kinds of topics and activities. I myself have hyperfocused on playing computer games numerous times. A lot of the time that's really enjoyable. There have also been times when I have hyperfocused on researching what is the best kettle for us to buy. Spending tens of hours researching, losing time, sleep and social interaction as I simply cannot tear myself away until I have found an answer.
This deep flow state can therefore be a real asset in my creative practice. If it's not focused correctly, however, it can also be extremely damaging. I believe that the flow state is the most important key to this whole area. But how best to access it? In my emerging process, I need to identify ways to create the right conditions. Play may well indeed be one way to achieve a flow state, but at the same time, I find the whole notion of simply playing for the sake of it to try and induce the flow state very troubling.
I don't think this comes particularly naturally to neurodiverse brains - it certainly doesn't come naturally to me. Now experimentation - that's a whole different thing. I believe that innovation has certainly come from accidents in the sciences as well as the arts. Additionally, in the respect that you can't wait around hoping accidents will happen, innovators of all walks have life have all developed unique ways to enforce accidents happening in a controlled manner. To stack the deck in their favour.
This is what I am after - how can I latch on to the sparks of interest which are gateways to hyperfocus? How can I then create structure around this to then experiment (it doesn't have to be ordered. It should be ordered chaos!). I think this is how I can make my own balance between intuition and learning. And if I am able to focus on things that interest or intrigue me then I strongly believe the experiments will have much intrinsic motivation. They will be fun in and of themselves. They will be play.
References
Albersfoundation.org. n.d. Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. [online] Available at: https://albersfoundation.org/ [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Artnet.com. n.d. Kurt Schwitters. [online] Available at: http://www.artnet.com/artists/kurt-schwitters/ [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Bowman, S., 2015. Using brain science to make training stick. 2nd ed. Glenbrook: Bowperson Publishing, p.142.
Carlson, P., n.d. Little Sparta Ian Hamilton Finlay. [online] Ianhamiltonfinlay.com. Available at: http://www.ianhamiltonfinlay.com/ian_hamilton_finlay.html [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Cobbing, B. and Lockwood, A., n.d. ‘Are your children safe in the sea?’. [online] Bl.uk. Available at: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/are-your-children-safe-in-the-sea [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Cobbing, B., 1985. Sockless in Sandals. Cardiff: Second Aeon Publications.
Csikszentmihalyi, M., 1990. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row, p.4.
Fowler, F., Fowler, H. and Allen, R., 1991. The Pocket Oxford dictionary. 7th ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, p.563.
Heller, S., n.d. The education of a graphic designer. Allworth Press, pp.103-107.
Joan-miro.net. n.d. Joan Miro: 100 Famous Paintings Analysis and Biography. [online] Available at: https://www.joan-miro.net/ [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Hupfeld, K., Abagis, T. and Shah, P., 2018. Living “in the zone”: hyperfocus in adult ADHD. ADHD Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders, [online] 11(2), pp.191-208. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12402-018-0272-y [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Kellaway, K., 2016. Hilma af Klint: a painter possessed. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/feb/21/hilma-af-klint-occult-spiritualism-abstract-serpentine-gallery [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Kristiansen, P. and Rasmussen, R., 2014. Building a Better Business Using the Lego Serious Play Method. 1st ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Mann, J., 2018. What You Need to Know about Joan Miró, Pioneer of Surrealism. [online] Artsy.net. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-joan-miro-pioneer-surrealism [Accessed 23 November 2021].
McGonigal, J., 2011. Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. 1st ed. [ebook] London: Jonathan Cape, pp.Location 439/8237. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reality-Broken-Games-Better-Change-ebook/dp/B004NBZFS4/
Nelson, R., 2015. BOOOOOK: The Life and Work of Bob Cobbing. [online] Walkerart.org. Available at: https://walkerart.org/magazine/boooook-the-life-and-work-of-bob-cobbing [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Rosenwald, L., 2021. How to Make Mistakes On Purpose: Bring Chaos to Your Order. 1st ed. [ebook] Hachette Go. Available at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Make-Mistakes-Purpose-Bring-ebook/dp/B08YCY93YP/
The Museum of Modern Art. n.d. Anni Albers | MoMA. [online] Available at: https://www.moma.org/artists/96 [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Thomas, G., n.d. Ian Hamilton Finlay & His Work. [online] Little Sparta. Available at: https://www.littlesparta.org.uk/ian-hamilton-finlay-his-work/ [Accessed 23 November 2021].
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