A two-day international, interdisciplinary conference hosted by the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh
19 George Square

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
Plato

Play is the exultation of the possible.
Martin Buber

What is play to the cat is death to the mouse.
German Proverb

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Jack Nicholson

Frivolous, serious, political, humorous, powerful: play permeates every aspect of contemporary culture and has become a central concern within the humanities, inspiring a variety of approaches and interpretations. When do we play, or perhaps, when do we not play? Is contemporary culture characterized by its playfulness? Have we always been playing? What are the social and cultural functions of play? Can play be political or must it always be frivolous? Is it a universal and intrinsic human activity? How do different cultures play?

The Graduate School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh invites you to consider the notion of play and how it can illuminate topical concerns in the arts and humanities.

The programme for the conference can be viewed and downloaded here: Play Conference Programme (PDF format), or viewed here (HTML format).

For further information please contact the organising committee at: artsjournal.forum@ed.ac.uk

The Play conference was made possible through funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.