Chơi Rì 2025 – “Play Station” in Hanoi

09 am – 09 pm, 22 Nov – 03 Dec 2025
3rd Floor, Complex 01
No. 29, lane 31, alley 167 Tây Sơn, Kim Liên, Hà Nội

From the organizer:

In Tày/Nùng language, Na Rì means “long rice field.” The name “Chơi Rì” (roughly translated as “Play Ri”) draws from the word “rì” in this place’s name as a way to evoke its local identity while also expressing the desire to extend and continue the ways we play.

Urbanization and changing lifestyles have gradually led to the disappearance of many traditional games and outdoor play habits. Safe and open play spaces are shrinking, replaced by roads and buildings. Children increasingly play with pre-designed toys in passive ways, following fixed rules. The reliance on digital devices also reduces opportunities for physical movement, discovery, and direct interaction with nature.

Within this context, “Chơi Rì” unfolds as a journey where the children of Na Rì are free to explore, imagine, and create games from their own surroundings.

During the time together in Na Rì, the children wandered along everyday paths, observing, listening, and sensing the rhythm of daily life — from the red dirt roads and cassava plants, to mulberry trees, streams, and the people they met. Through play, the journey becomes a way of observing, understanding, and feeling the land.

From that process, they began to build their own understanding of “play” — not merely as a moment of joy, but as a way of observing, imagining, and connecting. Folk games, as well as play inspired by surroundings, local materials, and stories became the first sparks of inspiration.

The workshops became spaces for the children to explore and develop their own games, combining design, visual making, sound creation, and improvisation. From the materials they gathered, they imagined and built their own forms of play. Landscapes, sounds, and memories of the place were transformed into parts of the play experience, carrying within them the breath of the land itself.

The project took place over two field trips to Na Rì and came together in a “play station” in Hanoi, where audiences are invited not only to observe but also to participate, reflect on their own childhoods, and rethink the meanings of “play” in human growth and connection.

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