EUROPA - OLD TOYS - TO TAK

TO TAK: ART AS PLAY AND PLAY AS ART

Toys have always been inseparable from their time. Oscillating between the romantic object of child's desire and always more expressed rational concept of an object defined by its educational, developmental or therapeutic purpose, modern toy is much more than the symptom which remains at margins of its time. This is in the best way illustrated by the saying „good design“ which surpasses ideological frames and the dictatorship of consumption turning the toy into a universal value which is also half a century later equally understandable and accurate. To such kind of toys belongs also TO TAK toy by the author Ante Jakić from1965, aimed at serial production, which by its inventiveness can be compared to the top productions of Scandinavian and Italian design of the time. We are dealing here with 14 elements of turned wood of various size and shape, which can be put together actually in an unlimited number of combinations. By simple mutual insertion of small rods, annular and cone shaped parts, various animal shapes are created. From the tactile viewpoint extremely stimulating, this toy is an “open work” left to the inventiveness of those participating in play. It is designed as a structural compound of mutually connected segments with the focus on finding out possibilities to combine associations which depend entirely on the freedom of imagination. Ludic component, sensibility for material and shape are constant in the work of the sculptor Ante Jakić (Ston, 1930 – Zagreb, 1996). Using various materials, he builds the syntax of shapes from elemental forms such as cylinder, cone, sphere or disc, by which strong imagery and associativity are created. Just mere experimenting with reducing volume, space and movement leads to the series of mobile and assemblable sculptures whose highest point is the TO TAK toy - the art as play and equally the play as art. It is therefore not accidental that its authenticity was recognised already in 1966, at the respectful international exhibition BIO 2 (The 2nd Biennial of Industrial Design) in Ljubljana where it was rewarded gold medal. Jasna Galjer