Textil- und Flächendesign
Deutsch
English
UNLEARNING TO FIGHT, WS 20/21
SCENARIO
Using football as an allegory for different mechanisms
in our society, a game of football in a possible future was designed, to propose a scenario of a value-driven non-competitive society or rather community, that evolved after our current system collapsed. In order to leave a maximum amount of possibilities to the audience for how to approach the thought experiment, it is left open, what may have been the trigger for such radical change.
All that should be said, is that the values new generations are being brought up with do not coincide with neither our social nor our economical system, let alone global disparities, and — coming back to the main subject — the way we play.
In Unlearning to Fight a new field, a new dress, a new set of rules is proposed. There is no goals, there is no goalkeepers, there is no opponent. It is a game of foot- ball, played for the sake of playing, with a main focus on the beauty of football — on aesthetic, technique, timing, immediacy of movement and composition. One may claim, this is not possible, or that this would ruin football. But it is to keep in mind, that this project is based on the assumption that in a near future we can and will unlearn to fight.
CONCEPT
Football is a world phenomenon. It is said, that a major factor for its great success, is the fact that it can be played without any special props or requirements. Although there are set rules to the match, the term foot- ball indicates much more than a game of 11 against 11 on a specific field. All that is truly needed, is an object to kick, and a person to kick it. A random amount of players can be added, it can be played in all seasons, in different climates and on most grounds. It seems to be, that the accessibility and simplicity are what made it popular in the first place. This is not to say, that it can not be complex, but, to emphasise that the fascination with it, does not lie in football as a modern competitive discipline.
This is where the thought experiment takes off, investigating questions on how the way we play, reflects on us as a society and how football can be seen as a metaphor for our value system.
Unlearning to Fight explores the possibility of a value driven society, beyond competition and social divide, through football. It is a take on developing an inclusive football, a game, that is played for the sake of playing. A game without losing — or winning.
But what it really is about, is how we can function together as both individuals and a society without fight and profiting off each other, in an equal co-existence.
In Philosophy, a thought experiment is used to prove or disprove something by creating a scenario and exploring its potential consequences.
The project Unlearning to Fight sets the boundary conditions for such experiment, intentionally leaving core questions open to invite the audience to further explore, speculate and criticise the idea that is proposed. It is to be seen at the intersection of design, performative arts and philosophy, proposing a physical form as an initial step to a purely imaginative examination of the way we will live and a future development.
