Zoë Paul’s new installation, Hoops at the shoreline of the sea, 2018, is part of her ongoing research into sculpture as remnant of the performance of making and/or social engagement. The traditional game of hoops is made by drawing circles in the sand. Players throw stones into each circle, the goal is to get the most stones inside each circle. Play is a form of emotional bonding, it brings people together to collaborate and to be innovative. Play and games also embody elements of competition, aggression, a climate of “us vs them” and supremacy over another. Paul’s new work consists of ceramic hoops, suspended from the ceiling by a thin chain that is then weighted to the floor by a stone. Inside each clay hoop structure there is a metal armature. The metal supports its architecture yet also reacts to the heat in the firing process the hoops, rendering them each fragile and elegant remnants of game play.