The PLAYLINGS Series

Mixed-Reality Participatory Art Installations and Educational Storyworlds

The Playling Series is Skye Von’s evolving body of mixed-reality artworks that invite children to step inside living storyworlds where ideas become something they can feel, navigate, and influence. Rooted in Skye’s desire to create the kinds of meaningful, imaginative experiences she never had as a child, and inspired by the curiosity of her son, the series combines narrative, play, sensory design, humour, and embodied decision-making to shift understanding and behaviour in tangible ways.

Anchoring this approach is her guiding belief: “I experience, therefore I am. I play, therefore I transform.”

The first instalment, You Are What You Eat, turns the science of nutrition and gut health into an immersive adventure inside Nutri’s belly, where children must help restore balance through collaborative play, discovery, and gentle problem-solving.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT [YAWYE]
2025

  • North London Primary School [upcoming - Feb 2026]

    Primrose Hill Primary School [June 2025]

  • You Are What You Eat transforms nutritional science into a participatory mixed-reality story in which children become active agents in healing Nutri, a gentle character whose digestive system has fallen out of balance. Guided by a Playling Helper, young visitors travel through an escape-room-inspired sequence of tactile, narrative-led spaces that mirror the stages of digestion.


    Rather than delivering information from a distance, the piece turns knowledge into something lived. Children test ideas with their bodies, listen to Nutri’s changing state, and work together to discover which foods help and which slow everything down. Play becomes a catalyst for empathy, agency, and behavioural insight, revealing how small choices shape internal and external wellbeing.


    Humour, colour, and character-led storytelling soften the complexity of the subject, allowing the science to be absorbed naturally through action, curiosity, and shared focus.

NEXT INSTALLMENTS
2026 - ongoing

  • TBA

  • The Playling Series expands Skye’s artistic practice into a constellation of storyworlds where children learn through action, imagination, and emotional attunement. Each Playling represents a different aspect of planetary and human wellbeing, creating spaces where young participants can experiment with choices, encounter consequences, and experience themselves as capable contributors to a shared world.


    The next instalments build on the same artistic foundation while opening new thematic territory. Upcoming Playlings will explore recycling, water health, and other interconnected ecological concerns. In every case, the aim is the same: to give children a space where wonder, humour, and embodied engagement become tools for understanding and transforming their relationship with themselves and the planet.

Across its emerging chapters, The Playling Series reflects Skye Von’s broader commitment to creating immersive art environments where story, sensory design, and embodied interaction deepen our awareness of how we move through the world. By inviting children to step inside ideas rather than simply learn about them, the work offers a gentle but powerful pathway toward empathy, agency, and sustainable habits. Each Playling opens a doorway into meaningful transformation, reminding young participants that even the smallest actions can shape the worlds we share.

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