Playgrounds à la Darbotz
On November 25th, visual artist Darbotz presented his collaboration with Mahavisual entitled Monster Playground. This installation is a unique artistic presentation. Beyond its function as a playground, the playground also acts as a depiction of joy and creativity in welcoming the second stage of the Bintaro Jaya Xchange (BXC) Mall. Through this installation, Darbotz skillfully blended visual characters with his imaginative exploration in responding to the area.
Designing a playground as an art installation had been sought by Darbotz for some time. He stated, “Creating a playground has been a dream of mine and, coincidentally, I had talked of this dream with those at Mahavisual. Some time has passed since then and finally I have the opportunity to make that dream a reality.” In this collaboration, Darbotz mentioned that the process was quite brief. It only needed around one month to organize everything from the direction to production. Meanwhile, the production only took up 10 days in total. The collaboration process began from ideation and sketches created by Darbotz which were then translated into a technical form by Mahavisual for production purposes.
“The playground is identical to a child. I challenged myself to think of ways to ensure that my drawings don’t scare or intimidate kids, something children can like even with the images I draw. I tried to think like a child and as it so happens I was also inspired by a hip-hop song from the 90s titled “Back in the Days”. The lyrics of this song I remember the most is, “Back in the day when I was young, I’m not a kid anymore but sometimes I sit and wish I was a kid again.” That’s what triggered the idea to make my drawings as honest and as naive as that of a child’s,” Darbotz elaborated on the early idea development of this installation.
Darbotz also added an element of experimentation in the creative process of this project. “I also asked other kids to try and draw their version of my monster. Taking off from that, the images I made for [this project] somewhat resemble the drawings I made in my childhood with silly lines, cuter monsters, and eye-catching colors.” He explained, “On top of that, in terms of shapes, I took those forms from paper. Paper folding is also a medium of play for children where they’re free to explore and create with no wrong answers.”
This installation and playground which primarily uses wood and metal sheets as materials also brings visitors to take in the beauty in the simplicity of viewing the world through a child’s eyes and feeling limitless joy. Using spray paints and paint, the contrasting colors in this installation also adds to the cheerfulness. “Everyone has been a child with the want to play with whatever they lay their eyes on. A playground is an arena for exploration where there is always something new and fun. An arena that can always be explored as a new adventure,” Darbotz concluded.
