Like taking LEGO to Denmark: toying with design

My book Toy Theory: technology and imagination in play, asks its readers to look at the development of technology from the perspective of play rather than practical or instrumental application. What if technical innovation were driven as much by experimentation, speculation, performance and hands-on ‘toying’ as by the identification and satisfaction of immediate material needs? What if technologies were toys before they were tools?

For this talk I will concentrate on one type of toy, the construction set. I will explore what its genealogy and development from wooden blocks to LEGO videogames, and ask what its technical and symbolic dimensions can tell us about the processes, affects and materiality of design as a broad category of technocultural speculation and production.

Seth Giddings is Professor of Ludic Technologies at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. His research and teaching address technoculture and play from videogames, toys and play equipment to interactive art and environments. His books include Toy Theory: technology and imagination in play (2024) and Gameworlds: virtual media and children’s everyday play (2014)

Toy Theory is also available Open Access at https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262548212/toy-theory/

It will take place online at

 https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zbW2ESCrSMWlwR3HzdPptQ