"Play Attention"
© Nuno Viegas & Ståle Gerhardsen
A collab piece for Infinito Festival in Cascais, Portugal 2026
Spray paint on aprox 17.5 x 7.4 meters.
"The work explores the tension between the weight of adult life and the freedom and playfulness we often associate with childhood. At the centre, a serious and anonymous adult figure is surrounded by a group of characters that climb, hang from, and play around his body.
These characters are not necessarily children. Rather, their behaviour embodies a childlike attitude — playful, spontaneous, imaginative, and free from the seriousness and conventions of the adult world. Their identity or age remains deliberately undefined; what matters is the state of mind they represent. They appear to be pulling the adult upwards, as if trying to lift him out of the rigidity, responsibilities, and seriousness that gradually accumulate as we grow older.
They invite him into their world — a space of imagination and fantasy where rules can be broken, the absurd is allowed, and play has no particular purpose other than play itself.
The adult figure maintains his closed and mysterious appearance, yet allows himself to be drawn into this playful chaos. There is a sense of resistance and surrender at the same time. The characters become manifestations of a more playful side that still exists within him, pushing it back towards the surface.
Ultimately, the work is about preserving our ability to play, imagine, and dream as adults — and remembering that growing up does not have to mean leaving that part of ourselves behind.
Nuno Viegas & Ståle Gerhardsen
