What is Umbala!?
Umbala! is a giant sculpture and an adventure playground that is playable just like a boardgame, enjoyable by the whole family from toddlers to grandparents. It is hand sculpted and painted collectively during a 45-day summer festival of Collective Art open to anyone to join in, learn and participate.
Umbala means colors in the Zulu language and this is just a sample of what is possible. Umbala! is a playground in the shape of a gigantic multi-color caterpillar passing through all the continents, the North and the South Poles, various fairy tales, a wizard's dungeon, an Inca pyramid and much more. The players travel inside the body of the caterpillar which carries sculptures of creatures from each part of the world as well as magical, fairy tale worlds.
Each colored segment is like a square in a board game such as Monopoly or Snakes and Ladders and, instead of dice, a combination of wheels of fortune, puzzles and equations, games of skill and athletic activities move individuals, families or groups of friends through the playground in an unexpected adventure. The game can last from a few hours to many days. The players gather a ball for each place successfully visited and once all 10 balls are collected they must find themselves in South America, climb the pyramid, sit on a giant sculpture of a grandmother reading from a fairy tale book and then slide down to the finish. The activities are accessible to all, and elderly or incapacitated participants can bypass climbing or other physically challenging activities.
More about Umbala!
The whole of Umbala! forms a huge public sculpture, and we call it a sample because it can be built in infinite themes and forms. Instead of the caterpillar theme, it could have an underwater world, an outer space and planets sci fi world, any historic or literary theme, or even a company or community theme. It can be adapted to various sizes, shapes and configurations according to available space and requires no electricity or machinery and very little maintenance.
The idea of Umbala! stems from the observation that in all the beautiful playgrounds in the world, benches are filled with parents, grandparents and babysitters waiting for the kids to finish playing mostly on their own and with their friends, while reading newspapers, books, talking on the phone or working on their tablets, talking to other parents or friends but not actually interacting with the children. After all, unless the kids need some kind of assistance, there is nothing for them to do other than enjoy the laughing screams and joy of the children.
Umbala! can be built in public parks, plazas or really any public place as well as schools, university campuses, institutions and company campuses. It offers a summer festival of Collective Art where all students, families, alumni, citizens or employees with their families can participate, create something for the whole community to use as well as a permanent outdoor art exhibition. And of course, it is also just a spectacular, colorful, educational playground that can also be used like an ordinary playground, with swings, slides, climbing ropes and tunnels and much more.
One of the only times families can actually share an activity together and enjoy themselves equally, the little ones, the teenagers, the parents and the grandparents and uncles is when they all enjoy a board game together on a Sunday or a winter evening. Other than that, they can enjoy sporting activities that exclude the elderly or physically challenged or spend big amounts of money to spend a day or two at a theme park.
So what if we can combine the two for an outdoor board game that all can enjoy?
Live the Umbala! experience
Watch this heartfelt video and go on a journey through the creation of the first ever Umbala! at our home base in Peru! Throughout this video you will not only experience what Umbala! is all about but you will live the beauty of the Collective Art creation process that the participants of the Misfits Sculting Extravaganza and the the Mythic Party shared.
How is an Umbala! constructed and how does the festival work?
Umbala! is economical, fast and simple to build, can be compliant to any kind of building regulation and safety rules and can conform to any kind of aesthetics. Umbala! Is made from simple materials, predominantly metal and cement. Depending on the size and complexity it will require some foundation and floor work to be done in advance according to the building and safety regulations of the country, county or state. The theme and layout is discussed and agreed with the entity that commissions the work, and designs and ideas are presented accordingly.
Once the foundation and preparatory work is done, certified by an engineer and the authorities, the sculpting festival begins where people are invited to participate in the initial ideas for sculptures and environments to be created, and we start by teaching people how to make the inside mesh armature of the sculptures, divide volunteers into groups according to what inspires them most, groups under the supervision of experienced misfits while continuous classes and assistance on techniques and methods are available to all throughout. Participants can choose to come every day, or just in the weekends if they have no spare time, can participate for the whole or part of the day. Anyone can join at any time. After the first 2 weeks, an additional ideas meeting is held where again anyone can present their ideas and we manage to incorporate them within the general theme and with everybody's enthusiastic agreement. Again we point out that the Misfits have developed tools and methods to achieve this in full respect of everybody's opinions and ideas. In the beginning of every morning a shorter meeting is held so that everybody is continuously heard. Every two weeks we introduce a new cycle of ideas that are added to the project. At five weeks all the sculpting is done, everybody including children and pensioners have learned how to sculpt with concrete, and we move on to painting and finishing ideas, and then to the actual painting. Paints, brushes, materials and tools are given out to the public, and returned at the end of the day. The event is peppered by side events, singing, dancing and all kinds of performances that the public is invited to join.
Are you ready to offer your community something really special, bring them together, teach them what they can do and leave behind not only an extraordinary and functional piece of art but also the memories of something they have forgotten since childhood?
Give us a chance to do a presentation for you!
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