An investigation into how spontaneous play and public interaction in contemporary art can subvert societal norms, based on the work of Oslo-based Iranian artist Shahrzad Malekian.
Breaking Ground with Play: Shahrzad Malekian's Artistic Practice and Beyond explores how free play in contemporary art can challenge norms, resist constraints, and inspire new ways of thinking. At the centre of this investigation is the work of artist Shahrzad Malekian, who has spent the past decade using play as a key element in their practice. Malekian's projects transform everyday spaces —from sports halls to city streets—into playgrounds of imagination, inviting audiences to interact and break boundaries between artwork and viewer. By encouraging spontaneous play, Malekian shows how small acts can subvert societal norms.
Featuring essays from cultural theorists, curators, and critics such as Elke Krasny, Ida Højgaard Thjømøe, Helga Nyman, Tirdad Zolghadr, and Jari Malta, Breaking Ground with Play brings together perspectives on how free play in art can be a democratising force. Through Malekian's work, this book explores how play—unrestricted and fluid—can make us question authority and reimagine our relationships with public spaces, institutions, and each other. It calls us to rediscover the power of play and see art not just as something to observe, but as something to inhabit, question, and reimagine.
Shahrzad Maleikan (born 1983 in Iran, lives and works in Oslo) is an Iranian interdisciplinary artist working with video, performance and sculpture, often in combination. Their works address social systems and power structures through strategies of participation and collaboration. Malekian uses the body as a medium and tool to explore cultural, social and political attitudes and hierarchies, both inside the art institution and in the public sphere.
