Play is understood as a tool for development, with its presumed natural endpoint at adulthood. Negative socio-cultural attitudes frame adult play as frivolous and a deviation from productivity - the “opposite of work.” As such, adult play needs to be disguised in euphemisms: hobby, pastime, exercise, scenario, or sit neatly within the bounds of culturally-sanctioned spaces, like theatre or holidays. But play is more than just an activity, it’s a state of mind where reality and imagination are combined in exploration of different ways of relating to the external world. Play deserves space both personally and professionally to be pursued for enjoyment’s sake alone.

Material design itself is a playful practice, requiring the suspension of disbelief and functional objectives. It is removing expectations and exploring possibilities in order to imagine alternative systems. It is a threshold between reality and fantasy - leaving one thing without having fully left it and entering something else without fully being a part of it. As the recipient of the 2023 hcma Vancouver Artist in Residence, I proposed a material research project under the given theme “Delightful Unburdening” that used the UV fluorescent properties of a common urban tree as the foundation for wide-ranging material experimentation, which was based on simple scientific principles and rigorous data-gathering, but guided by curiosity and amusement.

The horse chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) is found widely throughout Vancouver. Within the leaves, seeds, and bark of this common species is a substance with an uncommon property called aesculin. This natural dye fluoresces blue upon exposure to ultraviolet light when the aesculin molecule’s electrons are pushed into an “excited state,” which is a higher-energy arrangement than where the electrons are most stable, releasing the extra energy up as visible light. For the first step of the project, horse chestnut branches were harvested from downed trees, or branches impinging on sidewalks or roadways, and segmented into usable sections.

Following the harvest of the branches, and after many experiments, a replicable aesculin extract recipe was produced. The extract was then integrated into different material expressions of this UV fluorescent phenomena: foams, paints, bubbles, plastics, crystals, concrete and more. Considering that UV fluorescence has limited obvious utilitarian function and is ephemeral in nature removes assumptions of its application. And using delight as the guide in the material design process encourages myriad - and often surprising - pathways of enquiry.

Like the ephemeral nature of UV fluorescence itself, a playful state is fleeting and occurs in peaks and valleys. Play requires intention to remain open to possibilities, and the groundwork to play must be laid to reach that liminal state between reality and fantasy. This means that not only physical requirements must be met (ie. ingredients, space, tools, information), but also psychological. Like any mammal, playful behaviour can only be initiated when one is adequately fed, healthy, and free from stress. Play is also best when shared, elongating the peaks through social cohesion, and eliciting feedback that broadens the lines of research enquiry. Through a workshop that engaged hcma employees as co-researchers in the material design process, we partook in a mutual delight of the material expressions of play developed during the residency.

This UV-fluorescent materials research has facilitated a more flexible mindset that engages in play as a practice in combining novel approaches in the pursuit of creative solutions. Whilst play may appear frivolous on the surface, it engages with diverse ideas and risk-taking behaviour that would not be considered under other circumstances. Play connects us to the fleeting moments, to each other, to ourselves, and to the wider world, laying the mental mechanisms for future work as yet to be discovered.