Rosario, Argentina: The Children's Not-Museums
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A few weeks ago, our contact at the municipality arranged for us to visit the Island of the Inventions and The Children's Garden, two spaces developed and operated by the city of Rosario especially for children.
When we visited the Island of Inventions in its home in an abandoned train station, we discovered a variety of exhibits focusing on language and letters. Typewriters were set up in one space where children typed out what they thought were the most important words in the Spanish language and defined them, creating an “urban dictionary”.
Note the words and definitions posted on the walls.
My favorite exhibit, titled Clandestine Words, consisted of a rock-strewn path. Words and phrases were written on the ground, but suppressed by the weight of the rocks. Lifting up the rocks and moving them liberated the words, which when uttered during the last dictatorship often caused people to be persecuted or disappeared (phrases like, "He looked like him." and "I won't go.").
There were plenty of other exhibits as well including one on participatory budgeting as well as paper-making and book-binding workshop. Finally, there were some poetic, science-related exhibits. For example, in the room dedicated to the concept of time, a sign above a large rock asked, "Where is the time here?"
After visiting the Island of Inventions, we visited The Children's Garden, which is, as you might expect, mostly outdoors. Once we arrived, our guide led us up a small mountain. As we walked along the path, we heard voices coming from the foliage telling stories inspired by Gaelic fairy tales. Sensing my trepidation, the guide explained that the mountain contained only good witches. On the way down, we saw a tree with a sign in front of it imploring, "Climb me and hug me." Josh obliged.
The Children’s Garden also included some flying machines inspired by Leonardo DaVincci where children (and only children) could glide down zip-wires and float, hoisted, in the air. We climbed around a sonic playground pulling and banging on different objects and discovering the music we could make using our bodies. Exhausted by all that playing we went inside where we could continue playing, in a more low-key manner, with exhibits inspired by 20th Century art. I went straight for the puzzle inspired by the art of Piet Mondrian and was thrilled to be able to reinterpret his work myself by moving the pieces around.
Upstairs was an exhibit on the 20th century, which featured installations that used photos and questions to highlight events of importance from the last century. These photos of struggles/social movements-- including the fall of the Berlin wall, student protests during the 1960s and street demonstrations against the last Argentine dictatorship-- include a caption saluting the youth pictured as protagonists of the 20th Century.
Reflection
Both the Children’s Garden and the Island of Inventions are part of a larger project called the “City of the Children” that is based on the writings of an Italian named Francesco Tonucci. The idea is to make the city not only a safe place for children, but also a place where they can play together independently and be active citizens, because a city that is better for children is better for everyone. These children’s spaces have become two of my favorite places in Rosario. First, I enjoy watching the variety of people using the spaces. The municipality hires young adults as facilitators, and parents and adults visiting without children in tow find themselves drawn into the activities.
Next, I love being in these vibrant environments dedicated to thoughtful creativity. Teams of social scientists, educators and artists design the exhibits, which are devoid of even a hint of characters with their own action figures. Exhibits such as the flying machines, Mondrian puzzle, and sonic playground engage people’s bodies while they learn about flight, art, and music. All of the exhibits encourage imagination, whether sparked by sounds like in the magic mountain or movement as with the flying machines.
And I love the political component. The photography exhibit at the Children’s Garden proposes that ordinary people, not just presidents and generals, make history. The exhibit Clandestine Words, at the Island of Inventions, allows children to actively confront the past. Moreover, the spaces don’t present science, art, music and language, as topics that an expert must explain in order to be understood. Rather, children are given opportunities to explore and discover what science, art, music and language mean to them. Exercises like the Urban Dictionary, for example, tacitly declare that what children think about language matters.
Question
What toys and games were your favorites as a child? What did you learn while playing?
A few weeks ago, our contact at the municipality arranged for us to visit the Island of the Inventions and The Children's Garden, two spaces developed and operated by the city of Rosario especially for children.
When we visited the Island of Inventions in its home in an abandoned train station, we discovered a variety of exhibits focusing on language and letters. Typewriters were set up in one space where children typed out what they thought were the most important words in the Spanish language and defined them, creating an “urban dictionary”.
Note the words and definitions posted on the walls.
My favorite exhibit, titled Clandestine Words, consisted of a rock-strewn path. Words and phrases were written on the ground, but suppressed by the weight of the rocks. Lifting up the rocks and moving them liberated the words, which when uttered during the last dictatorship often caused people to be persecuted or disappeared (phrases like, "He looked like him." and "I won't go.").
There were plenty of other exhibits as well including one on participatory budgeting as well as paper-making and book-binding workshop. Finally, there were some poetic, science-related exhibits. For example, in the room dedicated to the concept of time, a sign above a large rock asked, "Where is the time here?"
After visiting the Island of Inventions, we visited The Children's Garden, which is, as you might expect, mostly outdoors. Once we arrived, our guide led us up a small mountain. As we walked along the path, we heard voices coming from the foliage telling stories inspired by Gaelic fairy tales. Sensing my trepidation, the guide explained that the mountain contained only good witches. On the way down, we saw a tree with a sign in front of it imploring, "Climb me and hug me." Josh obliged.
The Children’s Garden also included some flying machines inspired by Leonardo DaVincci where children (and only children) could glide down zip-wires and float, hoisted, in the air. We climbed around a sonic playground pulling and banging on different objects and discovering the music we could make using our bodies. Exhausted by all that playing we went inside where we could continue playing, in a more low-key manner, with exhibits inspired by 20th Century art. I went straight for the puzzle inspired by the art of Piet Mondrian and was thrilled to be able to reinterpret his work myself by moving the pieces around.
Upstairs was an exhibit on the 20th century, which featured installations that used photos and questions to highlight events of importance from the last century. These photos of struggles/social movements-- including the fall of the Berlin wall, student protests during the 1960s and street demonstrations against the last Argentine dictatorship-- include a caption saluting the youth pictured as protagonists of the 20th Century.
Reflection
Both the Children’s Garden and the Island of Inventions are part of a larger project called the “City of the Children” that is based on the writings of an Italian named Francesco Tonucci. The idea is to make the city not only a safe place for children, but also a place where they can play together independently and be active citizens, because a city that is better for children is better for everyone. These children’s spaces have become two of my favorite places in Rosario. First, I enjoy watching the variety of people using the spaces. The municipality hires young adults as facilitators, and parents and adults visiting without children in tow find themselves drawn into the activities.
Next, I love being in these vibrant environments dedicated to thoughtful creativity. Teams of social scientists, educators and artists design the exhibits, which are devoid of even a hint of characters with their own action figures. Exhibits such as the flying machines, Mondrian puzzle, and sonic playground engage people’s bodies while they learn about flight, art, and music. All of the exhibits encourage imagination, whether sparked by sounds like in the magic mountain or movement as with the flying machines.
And I love the political component. The photography exhibit at the Children’s Garden proposes that ordinary people, not just presidents and generals, make history. The exhibit Clandestine Words, at the Island of Inventions, allows children to actively confront the past. Moreover, the spaces don’t present science, art, music and language, as topics that an expert must explain in order to be understood. Rather, children are given opportunities to explore and discover what science, art, music and language mean to them. Exercises like the Urban Dictionary, for example, tacitly declare that what children think about language matters.
Question
What toys and games were your favorites as a child? What did you learn while playing?
3 Comments:
At 6:13 PM, josh said…
Lego, Transformers, and Sim City. I learned that you can create and destroy pretty much anything as long as you have the right pieces, that playing is often more fun when you don’t follow the instructions, that most cars are actually good or evil robots in disguised form, that people tend to get mad if you bulldoze their homes, that no one wants to live near factories, that you don’t have to be an expert to plan a city, and that there’s more to life than meets the eye.
:o
josh
p.s. here’s a somewhat interesting article on Sim City that I just read: The City is Not a Toy
At 8:06 AM, lernerm said…
sounds like a great museum - I look forward to seeing it. I can't recall a lot of toys and games (maybe some board games) - I remember playing lots of sorts like punchball, stoopball (City games), bowling, bike riding and swimming. I remember being a sore loser - eventually I learned to become noncompetitive and to accept losing. I also remember losing whenever I played with my older brother, and this probably layed a role in my drive to be be very hard working in order to succeed. I wonder to what extent the demise of toys and sports and their replacement by video and computer games will have an adverse effect on today's kids - will museums of the future be entirely electronic, nomore lego, clay, puzzles, or even scrabble?
At 9:14 PM, LAURA!! said…
My dollhouse was SUCH a favorite for me! I would contruct these elaborate vignettes and then when my mom got home from work tell her the story of what it all meant....
I think that reflects my lifelong love of interiors and stories....
oh, and I love the body language of you and the other three women in that photo from the musuem...it's a kid's toy, but it's kinda cool, but it's a kid's toy...
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