Adult Playground – Camryn Ruiz-Edwards
Adult Playground
Camryn Ruiz-Edwards
Camryn Ruiz-Edwards is a psychology and art major at Vanderbilt University, graduating in May 2025. Their work explores the intersection between emotional experience and creative expression, using art as a medium to investigate psychological concepts such as emotional regulation, identity, and the impact of sensory engagement. Drawing on their dual background in both the sciences and the arts, Camryn’s approach blends psychological theory with artistic practice, creating works that invite viewers to explore and understand the emotional and cognitive processes underlying human behavior.
Camryn’s academic journey reflects a deep interest in how art can serve as a tool for personal and collective transformation. They believe that creativity can help individuals navigate complex emotional landscapes, providing a form of catharsis while also fostering self-awareness and growth. By combining the subjective nature of art with the scientific study of the mind, Camryn seeks to bridge the gap between the personal and the universal, offering audiences new perspectives on their own emotional lives.
At Vanderbilt, Camryn has engaged in interdisciplinary projects that combine research and artistic creation, focusing on themes of perception, human connection, and the psychological effects of environmental stimuli. Their work often challenges traditional boundaries of artistic expression, inviting both personal reflection and intellectual inquiry. Through their art, Camryn hopes to create spaces where emotional exploration and psychological insight can coexist, offering new ways of understanding the mind through visual and experiential forms.
About the installation:
In a world governed by social constraints and expectations, Adult Playground emerges as a space where the primal and the playful collide. This rage room is not just a place to break things; it is an immersive, cathartic experience that transforms destruction into creation, anger into release, and chaos into a form of personal artistry. Through the breaking of ceramics and the visceral impact of a baseball against a wall or items, participants engage in a raw, unfiltered expression of emotion. Here, rage is not something to be suppressed—it is an energy to be harnessed, explored, and ultimately transformed.
The inspiration for Adult Playground comes from the paradox of modern adulthood: the expectation of composed professionalism against the backdrop of repressed emotional undercurrents. Society dictates that we navigate stress, disappointment, and frustration with poise, leaving little room for unfiltered emotional expression. This project challenges that norm by providing a structured space where individuals can physically externalize emotions often internalized. The curated selection of objects—from plates to televisions to office chairs—symbolizes different aspects of our controlled environments. By breaking these objects, participants metaphorically dismantle the limitations placed upon them. Beyond the immediate emotional release, Adult Playground engages with deeper artistic and psychological themes. The breaking of objects is not just about destruction; it is about transformation. Each shattered plate, each banged wall, each spray of debris becomes a temporary sculpture of emotion—a fleeting yet deeply personal testament to the human experience.
The role of sound is pivotal in this experience. The raw echoes of breaking items, the metallic clang of impact, and the muffled exhalations of participants create an evolving soundscape—one that is chaotic yet oddly rhythmic. This soundscape is as much a part of the installation as the physical objects themselves, creating an immersive atmosphere that reinforces the power of release.
From a psychological perspective, Adult Playground is grounded in the science of catharsis andstress relief. Studies have shown that controlled acts of destruction can help reduce cortisol levels, providing a tangible outlet for pent-up frustration. The act of physically engaging with an environment designed for emotional expression allows participants to reconnect with their bodies in a way that modern life often discourages. This connection—between mind, body, and raw emotion—is an essential part of the work’s impact.
As an artist, my intention is not merely to provide a space for destruction, but to provoke reflection on the relationship between control and chaos, repression and expression, work and play. Adult Playground asks: what does it mean to let go? How does destruction serve as a pathway to healing? And in a world so focused on building and maintaining, what can we learn from the act of breaking? In this space, anger is not a problem to be solved but a force to beexplored—an energy that, when channeled, reveals something profound about the human condition.
Ultimately, Adult Playground is a participatory work, shaped by those who enter it. It is a living, breathing installation where art is not just observed but physically enacted, where emotion is not just felt but released into the world. By inviting participants to step inside and engage with their unfiltered selves, this project transforms destruction into a form of creation. Even in chaos, there is meaning—and in release, there is art.
The installation:
