A Playground Before It Falls
Interactive Installation
2026
In Collaboration with Bao Li
Commissioned by Art Jameel
This participatory installation draws from the logic of the game Cat’s Cradle. Through tactile and embodied engagement, participants are invited to use their bodies to collaboratively generate, sustain and transform patterns. Rather than following predetermined instructions, they must actively negotiate relationships in real time in response to the structure.
Cat’s Cradle, a cross-cultural game requiring at least two participants, operates through a constant exchange of roles: one holds a structure while another reconfigures and passes it forward. This cyclical dependency foregrounds collaboration over competition.
At its core, the work proposes a condition in which balance is not given but continuously produced. Minimal guidance is provided; intuition becomes the primary mode of participation. Participants must remain attentive to the forces they exert and receive, maintaining equilibrium to prevent collapse. Here, instability is not failure but a generative condition, requiring adjustment and mutual awareness. Positioned as a modest form of relation-building, the work proposes an alternative paradigm in modern society, where individuals engage other as dynamic, co-evolving agents.
Originally commissioned by Art Jameel and exhibited in the Youth Takeover 2026: Not the Season at Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai