In a time where numerous individuals are redefining traditional norms, embracing innovative approaches, and prototyping more holistic and prosperous societal frameworks.
Play Atelier is thoughtfully positioned at the intersection of business innovation and creative developers, functioning as both an incubator and a consultancy. We manage dynamic spaces accessible throughout the year, organize events, publish papers, produce user generated content, and offer strategic investment and consulting services. Our goal is to unleash the potential of millions, empowering them to explore and realize their creative capacities in an ever-evolving landscape.
Jenn is renowned for her role as the Global Head of Innovation & New Initiatives at The Burning Man Nonprofit during a decade of significant growth, including periods under the leadership of the late Larry Harvey from 2012 - 22.
With more than 18 years of experience in launching ventures in the hospitality, arts, and tech sectors, Jenn is passionate about crafting real estate and community development models that bolster the startup ecosystem.
Utilizing her extensive portfolio, Jenn further develops solutions for her clients through her unique global Advisory Network, From Dust, and through tailored workshops, retreats, creative ateliers, and global guest houses.
She is a Partner at Re:Imagine Group, an urban prototyping lab in San Francisco, and a shrewd real estate investor. Jenn is dedicated to fostering emerging innovations by applying insights from her extensive experience to address traditional challenges.
Previously, Jenn was a Partner at the early-stage incubator RedRobin in East London, established post-2009 recession, where she honed her skills in platform and systems thinking. She also co-curated TEDxLondon from 2010 to 2012.
Engage with Jenn to co-create the future and incubate initiatives that generate shared value.
For more information about Jenn’s work and her models for creating permission zones, please visit:
The Suppression of Play: Industrialization, Religion, and the Linear Fallacy of Society
By Jenn Sander – For Play Atelier
Introduction: Play as the Forgotten Force of Human Innovation
Throughout history, play has been systematically devalued, reshaped, and restricted—not by accident, but by design. Society did not simply “grow out of play.” Instead, play was deliberately constrained as part of a broader shift toward control—through industrialization, religious doctrine, and the restructuring of time itself.
As industrial models replaced fluid, ritual-based societies, play was repositioned as a distraction rather than a fundamental aspect of human adaptability. The same structures that optimized production also compressed free time, removed Permission Places, and reinforced linear progression as the dominant framework of existence.
We are now living in the result of that shift: a world that has traded adaptability for efficiency, creativity for productivity, and fluidity for control.
What happens when a society no longer has permission to play? What is lost when time is structured only for output and not for curiosity?
This is the foundation of what must be reclaimed.
The Fallacy of the Linear World: How Play Was Designed Out of Society
The structure of time has not always been fixed. Early civilizations experienced time cyclically—shaped by seasonal rhythms, celestial movements, and community rituals that blurred work, celebration, and exploration. Play was not separate from survival; it was a mechanism for problem-solving, identity formation, and cultural evolution.
As industrialization advanced, time was forcibly restructured to be linear and transactional. The shift from agrarian societies to factory-based economies required:
• Time to be measured and enforced—turning work into a controlled, regimented function.
• Productivity to be valued above curiosity—play became unproductive in a system that required labor to be visible and quantifiable.
• Control to replace exploration—free time became a liability, something that had to be contained.
This was not just an economic shift; it was a psychological and cultural one. The removal of unstructured play reinforced a social expectation that time must always be optimized. The unknown—once a space for experimentation—became something to be feared.
Society internalized a false binary:
• Play vs. Work
• Imagination vs. Productivity
• Fluidity vs. Structure
The result was the gradual loss of Permission Places—physical and psychological environments where people could engage in open-ended play. When these spaces disappeared, society became more rigid, reactive, and resistant to change.
The Role of Religion in Play Restriction
Religious institutions played a key role in reshaping how societies viewed play. While early spiritual practices often embraced play as a means of connection and transcendence, institutionalized religion gradually restricted unstructured, unsanctioned play.
The Protestant Work Ethic and the Denial of Play
• Religious doctrines, particularly within Protestantism, framed play as morally suspicious—a distraction from duty and discipline.
• Leisure was seen as frivolous unless it had a structured, moral purpose (religious gatherings, productive rest).
• This aligned with industrialist interests, creating a culture where play was not only impractical but sinful.
Control Through Ritual, Not Exploration
• Many ancient traditions used celebration, carnival, and play as a way to access deeper states of consciousness.
• As religious institutions solidified control, they redirected these energies into structured, approved forms—eliminating spontaneous play from the public sphere.
• Play became something to be managed, sanctioned, or entirely dismissed.
Over time, structured worship became associated with virtue, while unsanctioned play became equated with indulgence. By the time industrialization accelerated, religion and capitalism had successfully reframed play as incompatible with progress.
This is why play is now something we “grow out of.” Not because we evolved beyond it, but because we were conditioned to see it as impractical.
The Reintroduction of Permission: Play as a Prototype for the Future
To reclaim adaptability and innovation, society must redesign the conditions that allow Permission Places to emerge.
Play as a Trust-Building Mechanism
Trust is not built through control; it is built through shared risk, exploration, and permission. Societies that play together form stronger social bonds. Throughout history, celebrations, festivals, and collective play have been unifying forces that transcend economic and social divides.
Partying, dancing, and collaborative play are not distractions. They are fundamental acts of trust-building, negotiation, and creativity.
Play as a Form of Fear Reduction
Fear is the enemy of adaptability. The less we play, the more we fear the unknown. Play trains us to embrace uncertainty, making us more flexible in the face of change.
When play is removed from society, people become more rigid, reactive, and locked into binary thinking.
Play as a Mechanism for Prototype Thinking
The future cannot be designed through rigid models; it must be prototyped through play. Innovation does not happen when ideas are “approved.” It happens through active experimentation, failure, and iteration.
Permission Places—both physical and psychological—are environments where ideas can be tested without fear of failure. These spaces are essential for progress, yet they are missing from most modern systems.
Time-Space Perspective: The Final Barrier to Play
Modern society no longer experiences time as flexible. Industrialization has compressed time into a function of output, stripping away its fluid, exploratory nature.
• If time is only measured in outputs, play disappears.
• If space is only valued for efficiency, Permission Places collapse.
Reclaiming time as something non-linear is key to reintroducing play. This requires:
• Rejecting rigid productivity models in favor of adaptive ones.
• Creating physical spaces where time is unstructured and fluid.
• Redesigning systems that prioritize curiosity over certainty.
Innovation emerges from environments that embrace the unknown. Without play, there is no adaptability—only repetition.
The Urgency of Reintroducing Play
Play is not a luxury. It is not something reserved for childhood. It is a biological, evolutionary tool for adaptability that has been deliberately removed from modern structures.
To reclaim play, we must actively redesign our environments to support Permission Places, adaptive time, and trust-based experimentation.
The spaces we create, the rituals we form, and the systems we challenge will determine whether we remain locked in control-based structures or reintroduce a future defined by exploration, creativity, and permission.
The future will not be optimized. It will be played.
copyright www.jennsander.com, 2020
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