The questions range from the evil game to which we put on a good face (for too long?), the game of the powerful and the global players, the first-person shooter games, the games that promote competition or self-optimisation, to the extent to which we make ourselves the plaything of powers and technology (corporations). The focus of the programme, however, is on play in its original sense, meaning the creative act, free of purpose and competition, geared solely towards inner experience and gaining knowledge. With these considerations, esc medien kunst labor follows the ideas of Johan Huizinga in his book "Homo Ludens", according to which people discover their environment and themselves through play and develop their personal and cultural skills primarily through play. Homo Ludens is deliberately set as a counter-model to Homo Faber, with a view to the innovative and transformative potential of play. Based on the assumption that no solutions can be found with the same technologies and the same way of thinking that cause the problems and constraints of our society and our individual everyday lives, the project at esc medien kunst labor focuses on play as the antithesis of instrumental reason - on the possibility of breaking down structures and coming up with new solution models through play: "We play and know that we play, so we are more than merely rational beings, because play is unreasonable." (Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens, Homo Faber). ( Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens)