Spielerei is a three-layered response to the enquiry driving this publication. A personal journey, it starts from a subjective perspective, pondering upon the construction of the subject through aesthetic experience. In this first part, the division between the private and the public is questioned. Aesthetic expression is understood as negating the difference between the personal and the political. In part II, we focus on the notion of appropriation. Re-interpreting traditions and cultural artifacts calls for a revaluation of the tools through which we engage with the world. Finding new meanings in what was already there, making it our own, it re-invents the present in light of a new past. Ultimately, in the third step in this triptych, the present is transcended. The third part of this publication looks at the potential of the aesthetic as a mechanism for emancipation and envisioning new futures.

In itself a playful political and aesthetic gesture, this experiment is simultaneously a result of and the manifestation of its process. Spielerei is both an action and a conversation between young artists, writers and thinkers from all corners of the globe.


An interest for exploring the intersection between the political and the aesthetic brought Rosa and Catherine together. They met during their studies in Philosophy at Leiden University, and decided to embark on a journey that materialized in the form of this physical publication. A combination of original poetry, prose, and visual art, Spielerei is a space for contemporary interpretations that question how we can conceive of the aesthetic as political, and of the political as aesthetic. Carefully curated, Spierelei aims to foster a conversation between its diverse contributions, with pieces that conspire with and complement one another.

Spielerei is a three-layered response to the enquiry driving this publication. A personal journey, it starts from a subjective perspective, pondering upon the construction of the subject through aesthetic experience. In this first part, the division between the private and the public is questioned. Aesthetic expression is understood as negating the difference between the personal and the political. In part II, we focus on the notion of appropriation. Re-interpreting traditions and cultural artifacts calls for a revaluation of the tools through which we engage with the world. Finding new meanings in what was already there, making it our own, it re-invents the present in light of a new past. Ultimately, in the third step in this triptych, the present is transcended. The third part of this publication looks at the potential of the aesthetic as a mechanism for emancipation and envisioning new futures.

In itself a playful political and aesthetic gesture, this experiment is simultaneously a result of and the manifestation of its process. Spielerei is both an action and a conversation between young artists, writers and thinkers from all corners of the globe.


An interest for exploring the intersection between the political and the aesthetic brought Rosa and Catherine together. They met during their studies in Philosophy at Leiden University, and decided to embark on a journey that materialized in the form of this physical publication. A combination of original poetry, prose, and visual art, Spielerei is a space for contemporary interpretations that question how we can conceive of the aesthetic as political, and of the political as aesthetic. Carefully curated, Spierelei aims to foster a conversation between its diverse contributions, with pieces that conspire with and complement one another.