shy* play is a platform initiated by Aster Arribas and Antje Nestel that operates at the intersection between art-as-process, (un)learning and neurodiversity. *shy is used here as a shorthand for shyness, introversion, and neurodivergence. The asterisk gestures a refusal to adhere to a final form of fixed categories.

shy* play departs from the urgency to reflect and craft amongst the hindrances that the dominant art world's contexts have confronted us with: In our experience, shy, introverted and neurodivergent expressions suffer under the regime of neurotypicality and extraversion which has become the standard method for institutional artistic experimentation and sociality formation. In response, this project asks: can shyness, introversion, and neurodivergence be a means for creative and experimental sociality formation?

In this project, neurodivergent tendencies act as springboards for the creation of different relational techniques which, in turn, perform as a means for artistic experiments in neurodivergent sociality. We hope to facilitate a spacetime where shyness, introversion and neurodivergence can exist outside the bounds of neurotypical hegemony, while also exploring the potential of creating new ways of doing-together-in-difference.