Playground Project: 'Freedom and anarchy' for kids

The do-it-yourself attitude of the 1960s led to a new form of pedagogical activism as parents joined forces to create their own urban play areas for their children. Led by the spirit of 1968, they took over empty lots and urban niches and used raw building materials to create places for their children to play.

The first playground is thought to have come about in New York City in 1890, a rather simple affair with a walled-off section of courtyard reserved for children's play. As this photo from Central Park in 1972 shows, the design of playgrounds got much more intricate over the decades, with cement stepping stones and bridges as well as firemen's poles and a slide

Dane Carl Theodor Sorensen had numerous theories on how best to design play for children. He introduced the concept of the junk playground in 1931. Handing children building materials and tools and leaving them alone to do as they like with them, Sorensen led the way in a call for more free space to encourage children's creativity.

Early on, playgrounds utilized whatever materials were on hand: Steel, rope, wood, concerte or stone. But in the 1960s, new materials were introduced and greater thought was put into designing elements for the playground that could be used in multiple ways by a large number of children, such as this sculpture, as seen in the exhibition.

As playgrounds gained popularity, the designs become larger-than-life as well. Not only were the play sculptures often unique in appearance, they took on a child-like look, with crooked edges or unusual forms. Over time, as safety concerns grew among parents, these playground elements grew to look more homogenous.

Beginning in the 1930s, playground designers attempted to incorporate the natural elements in the play areas in order to give children in an urban environment the same benefits as their peers growing up in rural areas. To that end, sandboxes replaced beaches, splash pools became the sea and grassy areas became wooded forests.

One of the most prolific playground architects, Aldo van Eyck, is motivated by the notion that children and play are an inextricable part of city life. As a student, van Eyck was deeply impressed by the European avant-garde, which comes across in his later work in Amsterdam's urban planning bureau. Striking simple and quite flexible, van Eyck designs to create environments that connect people.

"We want to make museums more lively," said Gabriela Burkhalter, curator of the Playground Project exhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn. Burkhalter, who began the project as intensive research in 2006, created a livable exhibition that tells the story of the 20th century as seen through the development of playgrounds. The exhibits are made to be touched, climbed and played on.