Along with the playshops and activities, de Appel will host a series of talks to accompany the exhibition CaccHho CucchhA. This symposium is geared towards an adult public, but children will also be welcome to be present and play in the exhibition space during the symposium.

Play is not a rehearsal for culture, it is its most elemental form. From the Amsterdam playgrounds of Aldo van Eyck to the subversive laughter of Sutton-Smith’s ambiguity, this symposium proposes a radical repositioning of children not as visitors, but as co-constructors of cultural meaning. What happens when institutions allow for mess, mischief, and multiplicity and when the lines between education, play, and politics dissolve into a space of shared becoming? During the symposium we discuss topics with which we have been engaged with during the process of working on the exhibition CaccHho CucchhA, where we ask questions about play in relation to other aspects of artistic work and urgent topics of our times.

Play at Cultural Institutions, with: Penny Wilson, Choi Heong and Daniella Pellegrinelli
Children’s exhibitions in museums and contemporary art spaces increasingly embrace play not just as entertainment, but as a mode of learning, exploration, and agency. Moving beyond didactic displays or passive viewing, many institutions now design and commission participatory art environments that invite tactile engagement, imaginative storytelling, and co-creation. Play becomes an artistic and curatorial strategy, a way to challenge hierarchies between viewer and artwork, to accommodate multiple intelligences, and to honor children as active participants in cultural production. In this context, play is not peripheral but central to how meaning is generated, encouraging curiosity, negotiation, and critical engagement across ages. How do these exhibitions and concepts of disobedience and play affect and change the cultural institution in general, and how do we not compartmentalise what behavior is acceptable for children and for adults at institutions? what does it mean to take children into consideration in planning exhibitions and programmes in general and how does it change our understanding of cultural labor? What is the role of caregivers and adults in engaging in play in those spaces?