New Babylon Revisited
Play, Freedom, and the Future of Work

Standing in front of Constant’s work

Every time I stand in front of Constant Nieuwenhuys’ work, something happens. It isn’t only admiration for the vision, the colors, the architectural imagination. It is recognition. A deep resonance: as if his art touches the way I think, work, and feel.

Constant imagined a world he called New Babylon: a society where humans are freed from the burden of labor. A world where machines do the work, and people live creatively, playfully, and freely.

For him, play was not escape. It was the essence of being human.

Why revisit this vision now? Because we live in a world that is, in many ways, beginning to resemble the conditions he imagined.

Automation as a given reality

Whether we like it or not, automation is a fact of life. From steam engines to electricity, from computers to smartphones, each generation has seen tasks handed over to machines. Today, it is algorithms and generative AI that take center stage.

Constant saw automation as a necessity: only when work is handled by machines can humans be truly free to live creatively.

I don’t approach it as a question of good or bad. I see it as a given. Automation will remain with us, and it will continue to grow.

The real question is not if it happens, but what we do with it. Do we see it only as a threat, or as a condition we can use to shape more human futures?

The misunderstood promise of automation

Often, automation is framed in terms of fear:

• Job loss

• Loss of control

• Dehumanization

These are real concerns, and they deserve attention.

But Constant flipped the perspective.
For him, automation wasn’t an end in itself, it was a condition for freedom. If machines could handle necessity, humans could turn toward imagination, play, and creation.

In my work, I don’t celebrate automation as progress in itself. I focus on how we use it: as a partner in insight, in imagination, in play.

Play as the serious work of humanity

Constant was inspired by Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens, the idea that humans are essentially playful creatures. Play is not a distraction. It is how we engage, experiment, and create meaning.

This is why I work with Serious Gaming. Games create structured spaces where people act, reflect, and experiment together. They surface insights and possibilities that words alone cannot reach.

In play, people discover who they are, how they relate to others, and how they might create differently.

A personal bridge: how this shapes my practice

For me, Constant’s vision is not abstract. It connects directly to the spaces I design.

• Automation (in the form of generative AI) can free people from the narrow, habitual paths of thought and give them new creative impulses.

• Play (in the form of Serious Games) lets people experiment safely, see their patterns, and understand themselves and each other more deeply.

Together, these create small glimpses of New Babylon: temporary spaces where people experience freedom, creativity, and growth.

In those moments, Constant’s vision is not only in a museum, it is alive in practice.

Closing: An invitation to reimagine

Automation is here to stay. That is not a question. The real question is: what will we do with it?

Constant offered one provocative vision: a world where automation supports human play and creativity, not just productivity.

My work is more modest, but it points in the same direction: creating spaces where people practice freedom, curiosity, and play.

New Babylon was never a finished plan, it was a question.

As automation deepens, will we let it narrow us, or will we dare to use it to create differently, together?