The BIN Norden 2020 Conference takes place in Collaboration with Design School Kolding, Playful Learning Programme, University College Copenhagen, LEGO House and Billund Kommune. 

Day 1-2 of the conference will be held in LEGO House in Billund. Day 3 will be held at the University College Copenhagen.

The conference is aimed at researchers, educators and others with an interest in design, play, education, and child culture research.

Students with relevant research projects are also encouraged to submit contributions to the conference.

Human life skills, and – as part hereof – play, are currently becoming a matter of growing interest in pedagogical debates, in research, and even politically when looking for answers to new challenges.

The idea of play as having something to say about developing a holistic being, has gained new attention in conjunction with a rising concern about an uncertain future in a rapidly changing world.
It seems we are at the beginning of a revival of some of the essential values that the BIN Norden research network has promoted for decades: Play, children’s culture, aesthetic and creative activities.

With the BIN-Norden 2020 conference we wish to initiate a discussion of design for play that take as a starting point the existing conditions for children’s play in present-day society. And we call upon you to join!

Possible themes/topics for abstracts (deadline 15 March), panels, demos and workshops (deadline 15 April) include:

  • Play in children’s everyday life
  • Play and technology
  • Play and materialities
  • Play and creativity
  • Playful in institutional settings
  • Play and music
  • Playful didactics
  • Play as aesthetic practices
  • Play as a democratic practice
  • Play and digital media
  • Designing for play
  • Play as business
  • Play and education
  • Play and humour

The conference is aimed at researchers, educators and others with an interest in design, play, education, and child culture research. Students with relevant research projects are also encouraged to submit contributions to the conference.

BIN-Norden (Children’s Culture Researchers in the Nordic Countries) is a Nordic, multidisciplinary research network that is intended to support Nordic children’s culture research. The network focuses on humanistic and aesthetic approaches to children’s culture, but is also open to researchers with other approaches. BIN-Norden has over 200 members. Most are active researchers, but the network also includes intermediaries, artists and people who primarily work with cultural administration. The overall aim of the Nordic conference is to strengthen the Nordic community on child culture research and promote the formation of a Nordic network of researchers bringing child culture research and design research together.