Contemporary music surprises us with its potential to redefine various concepts and ideas. One of them is the concept presented by Johan Huizinga in the monograph Homo Ludens: Play as a Source of Culture from 1938. Following the trail set by the cultural anthropologist, we will see that also in music the action of a person having fun becomes a creative act that crosses the boundaries of sound and space and breeds interaction. During her harpsichord recital with an extensive use of electronics, Gośka Isphording will interpret compositions exploring this aspect, also directly – through the use of the iconic games console.

The works of Anahita Abbasi and Ewa Trębacz perfectly illustrate the motivations of human actions. The composers’ harpsichord pieces are based on the creative exploration of perspectives and the overlapping of various planes. Play, understood as a form of expression and an exploration of the boundaries of sound and space, leads to the creation of new musical experiences. In Interwined Distances, Abbasi deals with different dimensions of distance – spatial, emotional, cultural and temporal. The piece plays with the listener’s perception, examining the movement of sound and the relationship between the performer, the audience and the concert space. Ewa Trębacz in Abrasion brings together and overlaps different musical planes, which results in their clash. This clash becomes a key tool in the piece’s dramaturgy. In the author’s imagination, the sound layers create a metaphorical mirror that reflects and transforms time, allowing for retrospection – recalling and working through what has been lost, and thus a dialogue between the past and the present.

A more literal form of play can be found in the works of Nina Fukuoka and Hugo Morales Murguía. In his composition Alpha 2.0, which combines harpsichord with modified Nintendo consoles and interactive video, Morales Murguía fully captures the essence of the homo ludens idea. The composer plays with technology and aesthetics, using sounds generated by chiptune-style consoles that evoke nostalgia for the world of old days’ video games. Playing with technology, image and movement blurs the boundaries between art and game, viewer and participant. Nina Fukuoka’s howto jouïssance is an intensification of the experience of play that goes beyond ordinary pleasure. The pleasure Fukuoka speaks of is associated with risk, tension and even moments of suffering, which puts the concept of  homo ludens  in a new light – it appears here as a space of creative enthusiasm and existential reflection.