V&A play area encourages socially distanced fun

A giant interactive playground will open at the end of this month outside the V&A in Dundee.

The 150 square metre chalk playscape is in collaboration with Abertay University, and is to remind children that while social distancing they can still have fun.

Lecturers at the University, Dr Lynn Love and Dr Mona Bozdog, created the installation encouraging visitors to interact and play games while keeping 2-metre's apart.

Dr Lynn Love, from Abertay’s School of Design and Informatics, said: “Although a lot of awful things have come out of the pandemic, one thing that has returned is a sense of community.

“Not only will people be able to enjoy the games we’ve created, the design allows people to get creative and come up with their own unique games.

“Visitors will be able to find empty leaves in the Chalk Garden that we have created and can use chalk to contribute their own pictures and messages.”

She added: “The work that Mona and I do usually encourages people to interact with one another while being physically close together.

“The pandemic means we’ve had to think a lot about how we can maintain these playful interactions in a safe way.

“We’ve relished the opportunity of bringing some of these ideas to the heart of Dundee, and we hope that it will allow families and visitors to engage, enjoy and perhaps feel inspired.”

Kirsty Hassard, V&A Dundee, Curator of Now Accepting Contactless, said: “It’s been great to work together with Lynn and Mona on realising the project. Their Chalk Playscape will encourage visitors to think about and interact with the space around the museum in new ways.”

The Chalk Playscape will remain outside V&A Dundee until 17 January 2021.

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