PLAY IN THE CITY

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Lefebvre guided us to think that this duality is part and parcel of the
fabric of the city, the order of the everyday and social stability. It is
perhaps this multiplicity of dichotomous readings which make Lowry’s
image so captivating. In reading Lowry’s image, it is fair to say we have
asked more questions than we have answered. This however is just the
predicament Huizinga would have pointed us to, were we to ask him,
“The attempt to assess the play content in the confusion of modern life
is bound to lead us to contradictory conclusions.” 25
The chronotopic nature of play – as a free and ephemeral bubble of
activity – makes, it in many senses, unquantifiable. We have explored
the scales at which play appears within the frame of Lowry’s painting
but in closing, it is important to observe the presence of characters
who are not participation in the collective celebration. Their presence
remind us how extraordinary the depicted event is, within the context
of the ordinary.
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25. Johan Huizinga, “Play-element in Contemporary Civilisation”, in Homo Ludens: A Study of the
Play-Element in Culture. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1971), p. 199.
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