In recent years – and at an accelerated pace during the Covid‑19 pandemic – work and work environments have undergone dramatic changes. The formerly accepted distinction of serious work and non-serious play is challenged by what Julian Kücklich (2005) calls »playbour«. We can currently see different forms of playful work, laborious play, »ludictatorship« (Escribano 2012), or »work/play interferences« (Fizek/Dippel 2018) emerging. This project explores the IFK’s research focus on »different work« vis-à-vis a revisited concept of different play. It investigates how playfulness is enabled, suggested, or instrumentalized in workspaces such as: (1) corporate offices (Google, Facebook); (2) team workspaces of start-ups; (3) home-office (non-)design; and (4) virtual offices on platforms including Zoom, Skype, etc. The research is informed by an analysis of the ideology underlying the promise of playful work, as well as by a review of games and play in a post-industrial scenario.

Mathias Fuchs is a game artist, musician, and media scholar. He pioneered the artistic use of computer games and has exhibited work at ISEA, SIGGRAPH, transmediale, and the Greenwich Millennium Dome. In 2012 he became a professor at Leuphana University in Lüneburg and currently works at the Institute of Culture and Aesthetics of Media.