The Play Factory

Commissioned for Longbridge Light Festival, Birmingham. The Play Factory was developed in collaboration with students from Bournville College during a 2 month residency in 2016.

Drawing upon the history of Longbridge and the festival's overarching theme 'The Shadow Factory', the 12 game installation satirised the infrastructure and hierarchies of product-based industry, whilst also highlighting pass-time and play of a bygone era. Using games, street games & toys from the period during WW2 as inspiration, Sam worked with the students in a series of workshops to design and create the activities that would exist within The Play Factory's narrative.

The Play Factory subverts the idea of ‘war effort’ by creating a space aimed at being a place of play and pure pleasure. Rather than producing ammunition and aeroplanes, our factory produced joy, interaction and participant relationships - a utopian ‘wacky warehouse’ for adults and children alike.