Electric Hopscotch

Artists:
Sydney Theatre Company: Jono Perry (Australia) / Padraig Ó Súilleabháin (Afghanistan) / Hon Boey (Australia)

Electric Hopscotch employs the latest LED technology to transport us back in time to an era when children played innocently in the streets and playgrounds of our towns and cities. Without a hint of chalk on the floor, Electric Hopscotch encourages visitors to play the popular children’s street game on a grid projected onto the ground in a laneway in The Rocks. Invisible at first, the board is activated by movement and is then projected on to the pavement from above.

If visitors stay and play, the grid remains, surrounded by vibrant pools of coloured light.  When visitors move on, like a mirage the hopscotch playground disappears as if it had never existed.  When a new player happens along, the hopscotch board once again ‘hops to it’ and give more visitors an electric surprise.

A nod to the fleeting innocence of childhood, perhaps? A bridge between the simple games of years gone by and the electronic wonders of the modern age?  Or just a very cool way to roll back the decades and have some good old-fashioned fun.

Electric Hopscotch will surprise and delight everyone who encounters it, no doubt with some kids watching in amazement and amusement as the adults hop, skip and jump their way back in time.

Country represented by installation: Australia