The Model – A Model for a Qualitative Society

Palle Nielsen’s experiment The Model – A Model for a Qualitative Society was originally staged in Stockholm at the Moderna Museet in 1968. There, a large exhibition space was transformed into a giant free playground for children to play without the presence of adults. Nielsen’s ultimate goal was to create a space where kids could be fully autonomous; he believed the anarchy would lead them to generate new systems of social interaction among each other. The Model succeeded in its efforts to create a space purely for children to not be held to the social norms of the museum, though because this work is based wholly on play it is utopian and can never be permanently realized in the world outside the Moderna Museet. The Model is an example of how in order to disrupt systems of power it is necessary to start work from within the institution.

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