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doing_nothing [2014-02-28 01:02] majadoing_nothing [2023-07-05 15:35] (current) maja
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-{{>http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/9201721394/}} +{{>http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/9201721394/}}\\
  
 == Motivation == == Motivation ==
  
-[EN] Stress, Burnout, ADD and pathological anxiety attacks are just a few examples of the contemporary malaise of too much work -- too little satisfaction, too much information, too little meaning. As a society we seem to have lost the plot a little… What happened to those promises that democracy and technological innovation would bring about a paradise-like egalitarian society with an abundance of leisure and self-development? Instead we work more, become more stressed and less happy, and suffer from chronic diseases and lack of time. There are numerous studies, methods, allopathic and homeopathic remedies that have been devised and (re)discovered in an effort to improve the situation. For some people things improve, but generally speaking we're not doing so well. The cultural field -- which could provide inspiration for living life creatively -- is not doing much better: most of us work more than eight hours a day and and more than five days a week; financial uncertainty and relatively low incomes bring additional pressures; artists are forced to become cultural managers and bureaucrats; etc. How long can we keep going like this? Through FoAM's coaching programme we noticed that the effects of stress in our sector are increasing dangerously. Therefore, we decided to include Doing Nothing as an important part of our artistic programme and daily routine+[EN] Stress, Burnout, ADD and pathological anxiety attacks are just a few examples of the contemporary malaise of too much work -- too little satisfaction, too much information, too little meaning. As a society we seem to have lost the plot a little… What happened to those promises that democracy and technological innovation would bring about a paradise-like egalitarian society with an abundance of leisure and self-development? Instead we work more, become more stressed and less happy, and suffer from chronic diseases and lack of time. There are numerous studies, methods that have been devised and (re)discovered in an effort to improve the situation. For some people things improve, but generally speaking we're not doing so well. The cultural field -- which could provide inspiration for living life creatively -- is not doing much better: most of us work more than eight hours a day and and more than five days a week; financial uncertainty and relatively low incomes bring additional pressures; artists are forced to become cultural managers and bureaucrats; etc. How long can we keep going like this? Through FoAM's coaching programme we noticed that the effects of stress in our sector are increasing dangerously. Therefore, we decided to include Doing Nothing as an important part of our artistic programme and daily routine.
- +
-[NL] Stress, Burn-out, ADD en pathologische angstaanvallen zijn maar enkele voorbeelden van de hedendaagse malaise van te veel werk - te weinig voldoening, te veel informatie - te weinig betekenis. We zijn als samenleving een beetje de kluts kwijt... Wat is er gebeurd met de beloftes dat democratie en technologische innovatie een paradijselijke rechtvaardige samenleving met zich zouden brengen, met een overvloed aan vrije tijd en zelfontwikkeling? In plaats daarvan werken we meer, zijn we meer gestrest, minder blij en leiden we aan tijdsgebrek en chronische ziektes. Er zijn talloze onderzoeken, methodes, allopatische en homeopatische middelen die proberen om de situatie te verbeteren. Bij enkele mensen lukt dat wel, maar algemeen bekeken gaat het niet zo goed. In het kunstenveld - dat een voorbeeld zou kunnen zijn van creatief leven - is het niet veel beter gesteld: de meesten onder ons werken meer dan acht uur per dag en meer dan vijf dagen per week; financiële onzekerheid door relatief lage vergoedingen brengt extra druk; kunstenaars zijn gedwongen om cultuurmanagers en bureaucraten te worden, enz. Hoe lang gaan we dit nog volhouden? Door FoAM's coachingprogramma hebben we gemerkt dat de effecten van stress in onze sector gevaarlijk aan het toenemen zijn. Daarom hebben we besloten om Doing Nothing als onderzoeksonderwerp te starten.+
  
 +[NL] Stress, Burn-out, ADD en pathologische angstaanvallen zijn maar enkele voorbeelden van de hedendaagse malaise van te veel werk - te weinig voldoening, te veel informatie - te weinig betekenis. We zijn als samenleving een beetje de kluts kwijt... Wat is er gebeurd met de beloftes dat democratie en technologische innovatie een paradijselijke rechtvaardige samenleving met zich zouden brengen, met een overvloed aan vrije tijd en zelfontwikkeling? In plaats daarvan werken we meer, zijn we meer gestrest, minder blij en leiden we aan tijdsgebrek en chronische ziektes. Er zijn talloze onderzoeken, methodes die proberen om de situatie te verbeteren. Bij enkele mensen lukt dat wel, maar algemeen bekeken gaat het niet zo goed. In het kunstenveld - dat een voorbeeld zou kunnen zijn van creatief leven - is het niet veel beter gesteld: de meesten onder ons werken meer dan acht uur per dag en meer dan vijf dagen per week; financiële onzekerheid door relatief lage vergoedingen brengt extra druk; kunstenaars zijn gedwongen om cultuurmanagers en bureaucraten te worden, enz. Hoe lang gaan we dit nog volhouden? Door FoAM's coachingprogramma hebben we gemerkt dat de effecten van stress in onze sector gevaarlijk aan het toenemen zijn. Daarom hebben we besloten om Doing Nothing als onderzoeksonderwerp te starten.
  
 +See also: [[https://libarynth.org/future_fabulators/what_people_say_about_doing_nothing|What people say about doing nothing]]
  
 ==== Experiments ==== ==== Experiments ====
  
 We began Doing Nothing as a formal programme in 2013. Informally, we've been exploring different techniques of being, introspection, meditation and contemplation for several years. We began Doing Nothing as a formal programme in 2013. Informally, we've been exploring different techniques of being, introspection, meditation and contemplation for several years.
 +
 +=== Stillness ===
 +
 +Photographic experiments in ethereality, materiality and time:
 +
 +  * http://entangled.systems/stillness/
 +  * http://fo.am/stillness/
 +
 +=== Futures of Doing Nothing ===
 +
 +A scenario workshop and series of pre-enactments on [[:/future_fabulators/futures_of_doing_nothing|The Futures of Doing Nothing]], as part of the Future Fabulators project. These pages include a good collection of [[:/future_fabulators/what_people_say_about_doing_nothing|quotes]]. 
  
 === Naikan === === Naikan ===
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   * reflective article by Christina Stadlbauer and FoAM about our experience in 2010: http://lib.fo.am/resilients/naikan_as_resilient_practice   * reflective article by Christina Stadlbauer and FoAM about our experience in 2010: http://lib.fo.am/resilients/naikan_as_resilient_practice
   * http://www.todoinstitute.org/naikan3.html   * http://www.todoinstitute.org/naikan3.html
- 
- 
-The three Naikan questions have since the retreat helped release tensions during conflict situations. 
- 
-  * What have I received from __________ ? 
-  * What have I given to __________ ? 
-  * What troubles and difficulties have I caused __________ ? 
- 
  
 ==== Mindfulness/MBSR ==== ==== Mindfulness/MBSR ====
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 http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/mindfulness-racket-evangelists-unplugging-might-just-have-another-agenda http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/2014/02/mindfulness-racket-evangelists-unplugging-might-just-have-another-agenda
 +
 +Links from the online [[Mindfulness Summit]] in October 2015
  
 ==== Karma Yoga ==== ==== Karma Yoga ====
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 Exercise proposal: Before beginning a meeting, sit together in silence for a few minutes. Become aware of yourself, your moods and expectations. Experience the presence of other people and remind yourself that they might have different moods or expectations, allow yourself to be open to anything that happens. Exercise proposal: Before beginning a meeting, sit together in silence for a few minutes. Become aware of yourself, your moods and expectations. Experience the presence of other people and remind yourself that they might have different moods or expectations, allow yourself to be open to anything that happens.
 +
 +==== Purposeless walking ====
 +
 +A number of recent books have lauded the connection between walking - just for its own sake - and thinking. But are people losing their love of the purposeless walk?
 +http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27186709
  
  
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   * http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2014/01/27/140127ta_talk_surowiecki   * http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2014/01/27/140127ta_talk_surowiecki
   * http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/why-the-9-to-5-day-is-so-tough-on-creative-workers/282331/   * http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/why-the-9-to-5-day-is-so-tough-on-creative-workers/282331/
 +  * http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2014/02/27/demons-by-candelight/
  
  
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   * go fishing. if fishing is too stressful, go fishing without hooks...   * go fishing. if fishing is too stressful, go fishing without hooks...
 +  * go driving. if driving is too stressful, go driving without the car...
 +  * go bird watching. if birdwatching is too stressful, go birdwatching without glasses...
  
 ==== Idlers Ideas ==== ==== Idlers Ideas ====
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 http://dougald.co.uk/writing/dougald_futureofunemployment_feb09.pdf http://dougald.co.uk/writing/dougald_futureofunemployment_feb09.pdf
  
 +==== Hannah Arendt on Scholê, in Thinking (The Life of the Mind) ====
 +
 +Wat alle mentale activiteiten gemeen hebben, is de specifieke rust, (...) de terugtrekking uit elk engagement en de opschorting van alle onmiddellijke belangen, die mij partijdig maken en die mij op de een of andere manier deel doen uitmaken van de werkelijke wereld – een terugtrekking waar we eerder naar verwezen (§9, tekst na noot 14), als de eerste vereiste van het oordelen. (...) distantiëring van het doen (130)
 +
 +Scholê is niet de vrije tijd zoals wij die verstaan - de niet door activiteit bezette tijd die overblijft na een dag vol van “bezigheden ter vervulling van de levensbehoeften”. Scholê daarentegen is het weloverwogen afzien van, zich onthouden van (schein in het Grieks) de gebruikelijke activiteiten in dienst van onze dagelijkse behoeften (hê tôn anagkaiôn scholê), met de bedoeling ergens rustig de tijd voor te nemen (scholên agein). (...) We hebben hier dus te maken met een weloverwogen, actief niet-deelnemen aan de dagelijkse bedrijvigheid van het leven. (130)
 +
 +==== Paul Lafargue 'The Right To Be Lazy' ====
 +
 +"And meanwhile the proletariat, the great class embracing all the producers of civilized nations, the class which in freeing itself will free humanity from servile toil and will make of the human animal a free being, – the proletariat, betraying its instincts, despising its historic mission, has let itself be perverted by the dogma of work. Rude and terrible has been its punishment. All its individual and social woes are born of its passion for work."
 +
 +Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy. – Lessing
 +
 +http://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1883/lazy/index.htm
 +
 +==== Dzabalebariti ====
 +
 +An excellent Balkan word meaning 'doing nothing': http://www.zargonaut.com/dzabalebariti
 +
 +A competition in lazing around in Monte Negro (the winner managed 37 hours without a toilet break): http://www.24sata.hr/cudne-vijesti/crna-gora-odmarao-je-35-sati-pa-postao-prvak-u-izlezavanju-378966
 +
 +==== theaternyx* ====
 +
 +"in october 2013 we had a great experience with our colleagues during one week of (nearly) doing nothing. we were creating a design for the week with some simple structures and tools to provide a frame for the group. after a time together in the morning with feldenkrais, breakfast and coffee, we started each day with a walk. walks in a special area - the east of linz; harbor, industrial zone,… 
 +after the walks we were guests at our host's places. also these hosts, sometimes a group, sometimes a single person didn't know what we were exactly up to. the only information given before was, that a group of people will come who will do nothing. and this situation was one of the "big surprises" for us. it brought all the participants into a very open, concentrated, lidless position. it opened a field of being in contact with people - some of whom you know, others you don't - in another way.
 +
 +all the people from our group and also our hosts were invited as the entire person they are. we were together not for work, nor to discuss something in particular; not to find anything out, not with a concrete theme or issue and nobody had to be a specialist for whatever … 
 +all the people were asked to be only themselves. they were not asked to participate because of their profession (artist, performer,…) or because they were particularely successful in anything. all these things weren't important for this coming and being together.
 +and still, in the evenings of those days it felt as if the group had become larger and larger and our experience was that the time together with these people was so inspiring, a respectful learning from each other by doing nothing together."
 +
 +Claudia Seigmann, theaternyx*
 +
 +==== Five reasons ====
 +
 +  - “Doing nothing” isn’t really doing nothing
 +  - Aimlessness, rest and even boredom can boost creativity
 +  - Too much busyness is counterproductive
 +  - The brain depends on downtime
 +  - You’ll regain control of your attention
 +
 +http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jan/09/five-reasons-we-should-all-learn-to-do-nothing
 +
 +==== Space Out ===
 +
 +A few weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon, about 70 people gathered at Ichon Hangang Park in Seoul, South Korea, to do absolutely nothing. There was not a smartphone in sight, no texting or taking selfies, and no one rushing to get anywhere. 
 +
 +The crowd was taking part in South Korea's annual Space Out Competition, a contest to see who can stare off into space the longest without losing focus. WoopsYang, the visual artist who created the event in 2014, said it's designed to highlight how much people have been overworking their brains and how much they stand to gain by taking a break.
 +
 +"I was suffering from burnout syndrome at the time, but would feel extremely anxious if I was sitting around doing nothing, not being productive in one way or another," she told VICE. Eventually, she realized she wasn't alone. "I thought to myself, We would all feel better about doing nothing if we did nothing together as a group." 
 +
 +http://www.vice.com/read/doing-nothing-has-become-a-sport-in-south-korea
 +
 +
 +==== On Agalmic ====
 +
 +Nik Gaffney's collection of articles related to doing nothing: http://agalmic.org/tagged/doing%20nothing
 +
 +==== Keeping Quiet ====
 +
 + by Pablo Neruda
 +
 +A callarse
 +
 +Ahora contaremos doce\\
 +y nos quedamos todos quietos.\\
 +
 +Por una vez sobre la tierra\\
 +no hablemos en ningún idioma,\\
 +por un segundo detengámonos,\\
 +no movamos tanto los brazos.\\
 +
 +Sería un minuto fragante,\\
 +sin prisa, sin locomotoras,\\
 +todos estaríamos juntos\\
 +en una inquietud instantánea.\\
 +
 +Los pescadores del mar frió\\
 +no harían daño a las ballenas\\
 +y el trabajador de la sal\\
 +miraría sus manos rotas.\\
 +
 +Los que preparan guerras verdes,\\
 +guerras de gas, guerras de fuego,\\
 +victorias sin sobrevivientes,\\
 +se pondrían un traje puro\\
 +y andarían son sus hermanos\\
 +por la sombra, sin hacer nada.\\
 +
 +No se confunda lo quiero\\
 +con la inacción definitiva:\\
 +la vida es solo lo que se hace,\\
 +no quiero nada con la muerte.\\
 +
 +Si no pudimos ser unánimes\\
 +moviendo tanto nuestras vidas\\
 +tal vez no hacer nada una vez,\\
 +tal vez un gran silencio pueda\\
 +interrumpir esta tristeza,\\
 +este no entendernos jamás\\
 +y amenazarnos con la muerte,\\
 +tal vez la tierra nos enseñe\\
 +cuando todo parece muerto\\
 +y luego todo estaba vivo.\\
 +
 +Ahora contare hasta doce\\
 +y tú te callas y me voy.\\
 +
 +
 +Keeping Quiet
 +
 +Now we will count to twelve\\
 +and we will all keep still.\\
 +
 +For once on the face of the earth,\\
 +let's not speak in any language;\\
 +let's stop for one second,\\
 +and not move our arms so much.\\
 +
 +It would be an exotic moment\\
 +without rush, without engines;\\
 +we would all be together\\
 +in a sudden strangeness.\\
 +
 +Fisherman in the cold sea\\
 +would not harm whales\\
 +and the man gathering salt\\
 +would look at his hurt hands.\\
 +
 +Those who prepare green wars,\\
 +wars with gas, wars with fire,\\
 +victories with no survivors,\\
 +would put on clean clothes\\
 +and walk about with their brothers\\
 +in the shade, doing nothing.\\
 +
 +What I want should not be confused\\
 +with total inactivity.\\
 +Life is what it is about;\\
 +I want no truck with death.\\
 +
 +If we were not so single-minded\\
 +about keeping our lives moving,\\
 +and for once could do nothing,\\
 +perhaps a huge silence\\
 +might interrupt this sadness\\
 +of never understanding ourselves\\
 +and of threatening ourselves with death.\\
 +Perhaps the earth can teach us\\
 +as when everything seems dead\\
 +and later proves to be alive.\\
 +
 +Now I'll count up to twelve\\
 +and you keep quiet and I will go.\\
 +
 +—from Extravagaria 
 +
 +==== Become the sky ====
 +
 +
 +Inside this new love,\\
 +die.\\
 +
 +Your way begins on the other side.\\
 +Become the sky.\\
 +
 +Take an axe to the prison wall.\\
 +Escape.\\
 +Walk out like someone suddenly born into color.\\
 +Do it now.\\
 +
 +You’re covered with a thick cloud.\\
 +Slide out the side.\\
 +Die,\\
 +and be quiet.\\
 +Quietness is the surest sign\\
 +that you’ve died.\\
 +Your old life was a frantic running from silence.\\
 +
 +The speechless full moon comes out now.\\
  
 +-Rumi
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