Future visions – are you prepared for change?

Today I took part in a Sustainability Action Planning Workshop organised by Forum for the Future, held at the Watershed in Bristol. The aim of the workshop was to get together a wide range of professionals from the creative industries to discuss future scenarios, their implications and our roles in them. It was interesting to meet different types of creative people and the discussions were thoughtful – however I left with mixed feelings.

I was reading the four different uncertain scenarios (uncertain because we don’t really know what will come our way) in preparation for the event on Monday evening and had contradicting feelings about the whole thing. The scenarios, impressive as they were with the depth of detail, had familiar and plausible elements but at the same time they were quite far out there, hard to connect to. At the workshop we were working in groups discussing possible upcoming challenges and opportunities and what action we could take to help positive change. Some persistent red threads came through – need for collaboration, networks, knowledge sharing, openness and transparency, bringing design thinking into business and decision making as an integral part of the process, need for champions who can reach out to educate our industry of actions anyone can take to help combat things like climate change and its repercussions… the list is actually longer than I thought!

As it can be with these “visionary” workshops, the discussion often veered off the focus at hand (building concrete short term and long term actions) and the aims and rules of how to go about the group setting could have been defined clearer. Not that the activity was without benefit, but the results could have been more fruitful and innovative if openness and playfulness would have been encouraged and guided by the facilitators.

So as not to sound like dry critic, I’d like to say that the process we went through today has made me think a lot about both useful ways of engaging with people in workshop scenarios and also about my actions. What can I do to help change happen to tackle climate change and bring sustainability into my working process and workplace? Change is coming on one level or another and I know it can be viewed as a positive thing instead of a negative threat. I’d like to bring a feet-on-the-ground ethical set of values to my work – embracing sustainability in the way I work but also assessing it for the clients I work with. If this could be part of the setting from the start, everyone involved would be aware of it. I’d like to think this would be viewed as responsible thinking and efficient action, all still making business sense as well.

Other actions are already taking place working with ARK – planning projects for social design, tackling local issues and hopefully prototyping ways of collaboration and codesign.

I hope other participants left with some thoughts on their mind rather than indifferent feelings – reaction is always a sign of engagement, be it good or bad.

Creating space for a creative headspace

After a nice break that included no presents, rushing or spending much money, I have been getting back in gear by reading some of my favourite blogs. And I feel particularly warm and fuzzy in my heart as I see the same ethos and sentiment carry through so many people’s minds: to establish better conditions to unleash creativity within themselves.

First lovely Lulu, a creative designer and facilitator beaming with positive attitude, expresses her desire for self-exploration and creation of artistic works:

I believe that by committing to spend some time educating myself about my Self, by using the act of creating to journey from question to understanding, that artistic voice within me will be unleashed. And that the most appropriate mediums of expression will naturally emerge.

Then Olivia, a creative writer and thinker, talks about creative space which she calls “Olivia’s Kitchen”:

This year is about creating conditions that will allow my work to emerge – and Olivia’s Kitchen conjures the image for me of that space. — It is my belief that we are often so focused on worrying about what we are going to do and how we are going to do it, that we actually neglect creating the space which would allow the answers to those questions to emerge naturally.

I also enjoyed reading an ebook about happiness, quality of life and work by Vehmas Assembly (available in Finnish only), in which the author Sampsa coins a nice phrase saying that we all need to “re-educate our inner monkeys”. With this he refers to our evolutionary survival instincts and the unfortunate hoarding and status craving instinct that drives many to a vicious cycle of overconsumption, overworking and unhappiness. I share the point he and many others have made: a process of kindness, love and self-awareness is needed. Channeling these things into everyday life and ways of looking at things will affect everything else, like a chain reaction. One becomes kinder to oneself and this transfers to relationships, work and quality of life.

I felt inspired by all these generous and heartfelt pieces of writing and thought I would simply share my process of creative space. It’s not finished yet and I hope it never will be as things change with the flow. And change and flow I know now to be important parts of my quality of life in general.

I have reorganised my working space at home over Christmas. I have a desk in the corner of our light and cozy living room. It is only when I got rid of lots of clutter that is not related to my creativity (if it’s related, then it’s not clutter), moved it facing the window and allocated a wall next to it for free notes and drawings that I actually feel in my bones I can finally embrace this spot as my own. I have my candle, space for a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, a crazy plant, cat per week desk calendar, origami a day calendar, pot with lots of brushes and pens and sticks, a beautiful 50s book of British birds, a shelf with more books, different drawing papers and sketch books, woollen socks to combat drafty floors and the laptop, of course.

I hope you noticed that the laptop was last on the list.

I have now begun addressing the time space issue – to comfortably enjoy spending time here even after a long day at my full time job. Time space is for me really more about the whole sphere of an issue about creative headspace. It’s more about that freedom inside my head, a simultaneous lenience and vigorous drive towards exploring and expressing myself.

The good thing is that I have a perfect project starting up at the end of January, and this project will offer me a framework to help with creative time outside normal working hours. The project involves a workshops with many other great creative people: musicians, actors, filmmakers, writers and me as a storyboard artist. It’s a dream project – I’m going to be exploring storyboarding techniques and hopefully find an interesting way of showcasing the athmospheric moods and even sensuality of a scene. It’s work but it’s firstly more fun and personally rewarding exploration, happiness.

It’s a good start for 2010, a continuity of good things. I wish you all the same.

Inhale, exhale, improvise

You know those conversations, the enthusiastic rants you have with interesting people, often performed over a few drinks in a pub? And the following day, the slow dawn of realisation that you have wholeheartedly agreed to take part in some project or another?

I love those conversations.

Great discussions are often initiated and accelerated by impulse and instinct. They can generate interesting creative collaborations that be simple short-lived sparks or long-lasting affairs. A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation that lead me to take part in an improvised music performance with the PAST collective as part of the May you Live in Interesting Times festival.

I used to sing a lot when I was younger, in indie bands and in plays as part of my theatre activities. Since coming to Britain I haven’t sung much and I had almost forgotten what singing really means to me and what it feels like. I came across a quote, on the Facebook page of the German Krautrockers Popol Vuh, which describes this feeling well:

Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.

The singing I did for the performance was the first time I used my voice as more of an instrument amongst others. Creating rhythms, simple melodies, whispers of breathing which were looped and layered into the fabric of sound we were improvising together. It was very liberating, the improvisation, and being able to embrace the individual processes of each of the rehearsal sessions we had.

To be able to improvise is to be able to welcome uncertainty and discomfort and allow them to open up new creative pathways. With singing this approach is physical, both raw and delicate at times. This tingling exploration is to be found in other creative pursuits too, but I think it takes more practice for me to find it and apply it to them. The environment has a big impact on this  – the often hectic surroundings do not offer me the almost meditative qualities needed for a fluid and experimental mindset. So next for me it’s about practicing achieving this mindset in everyday life and creative practice and letting it run its course.

Myth vs. fact

The title of this blog post refers to posters I saw at the Harlow Town Show in September. They were displayed at the local NHS stand and grabbed my attention straight away.

I thought this was such a good example of simple messaging and design. It stops people in their tracks – we all have people with mental health problems in our circle of friends and acquaintances even if we are not aware of this.

I have a personal stance in talking openly about mental health problems after witnessing too many occasions when they have been brushed under the carpet or they have cause feelings of shame, despair or even guilt in people close to me. My stance is strong also because there is really hardly any honest publicity about raising awareness of these issues. In social situations, it’s not “appropriate” to admit to one’s weaknesses, especially if those feelings of weakness are in one’s head. Mention therapy or the thought of getting help, things get awkward.

So here it goes: I have been to therapy to see a counselor on a regular basis. No, I didn’t have a nervous breakdown nor did I have a scary sounding mental condition that would make me feel like I couldn’t cope. There are so many states of anxiety and depression that get a grip on people these days – and is it really a surprise? Having had a fairly open-minded attitude towards getting help for mental health concerns, even I found it hard to cross that threshold to contact someone to get help.

And you know, counseling is great. I think everyone should get some at times just to get a fresh look at where it’s at. It’s easy to loose sight of things in your life, whatever they may be. It’s defeatist to deny the need for an objective outside opinion, which you can’t always get from your family or friends.

Openness – it is the key to many things. I wish it could be embraced better in public – after all, we are not machines but human beings with imperfections and faults which make us all the bit better for it. Say yes to that.

On chaos and balance

I have always been enthralled by mythology; weaved stories of our world and anthropomorphic characters harnessed to portray beliefs and abstract concepts.

Loki

JOKER. The arch villain of the Caped Crusader, but also the archetype: the Trickster. Legends, folklore and religious texts depict a Trickster in one form or another: Loki, the Coyote, Puck, the Fox, the Serpent…

The trickster deity breaks the rules of the gods or nature, sometimes maliciously (for example, Loki) but usually, albeit unintentionally, with ultimately positive effects.Wikipedia