How they played: Children and construction toys (c. 1840-1940)
Final Report Abstract
The project analysed construction sets from the middle of the 19th century until the Second World War with a special focus on children users. Construction sets have been devised and developed by adults as educational tools for children; they have been designed to shape the future through specific play activities. The investigation juxtaposed the intentions of adults (parents, educators, designers, producers, retailers) with the so far neglected and underresearched perspective of children. The research showed that playing with construction sets oscillated between the pedagogical and the entertaining functions, with variations depending on locally dominant mentalities and other sociocultural factors. Primary and secondary sources examined in the course of the project revealed the practice of play to be particularly complex and multidimensional, entailing not only positive emotions, but also negative ones like boredom, frustration and fear. Furthermore, the project identified four main themes underpinning construction toys: Abstraction, Technical knowledge, Politicisation, and the Ambivalence towards technology. Manipulation of these themes and their interactions by adult stakeholders turned construction sets into miniature models of the beliefs and ideologies of the respective societies. The development of western industrial society and its ramifications were reproduced, controlled and tested on a small scale through the design, production and usage of construction sets. Children were the involuntary protagonists in this process. The project contributes to a deeper understanding of childhood and society in general in relation to technology and technology-inspired play.
Publications
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The Collection of Technical Toys in the Deutsches Museum, München, Design Issues, 32:1, Winter 2016, 87-92
Yagou, Artemis
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Spielerisches Bauen und Konstruieren: Technische Baukästen im Deutschen Museum, Kultur und & Technik, 42:4 (2018), 46-51
Artemis Yagou
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Childhood by Design: Toys and the Material Culture of Childhood, 1700-Present, ed. by Megan Brandow-Faller (Book Review), The Design Journal, vol. 22, issue 2, 2019, 231-234
Yagou, Artemis
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More than a Toy Box: Dandanah and the Sea of Stories, in: Susanne Bauer, Martina Schlünder and Maria Rentetzi (eds), Boxes: A Field Guide, Manchester: Mattering Press, 2020, 202-212
Artemis Yagou
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The Other Side of Play: Fear and Frustration in the Design, Consumption and Use of Construction Sets, Journal of Design History, 33 (3), 2020, 193-208
Yagou, Artemis
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Building a Mini-Parthenon: Experiences of Users, in: Christoph Kühberger (ed), Mit Geschichte spielen: Zur materiellen Kultur von Spielzeug und Spielen als Darstellung der Vergangenheit, Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2021, 339-356
Yagou, Artemis
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Play, Design, Politics: Technical Toys, Design Policies and British-German Exchanges in the First Half of the Twentieth Century, in: Lucy Wasensteiner (ed), Sites of Interchange: Modernism, Politics and Culture between Britain and Germany, 1919–1955, London: Peter Lang, 2021, 9-29
Artemis Yagou
