2022
In the art development project Sowing the Seeds of Love, we are rethinking efforts to deal with performance pressure and stress among young students.
In one part of the exhibition, we were present in the exhibition space for the first eight weeks and worked “open curtain” together with museum visitors and other invited guests with concrete suggestions on how educational institutions and students can deal with performance pressure. In this way, the artists' process, which is not normally visible to an art audience, is shown.
The process is divided into four phases. In the first phase, we gather knowledge and experience through workshops and interviews with museum visitors and professionals to learn more about stress and performance pressure. In the subsequent phases, we design and develop the social and physical programs based on the results of phase 1.
Finally, the results will be presented to our partner University College Copenhagen and their teacher training program and at a public closing event for visitors to the museum.
- Time and framework for real learning
- Security among the students
- A student administration that creates predictability.
These are just some of the suggestions we make based on the development process focusing on performance pressure and stress among young students in Denmark.
Based on our many conversations with students, teachers, experts and visitors to the art center, we can see that there is no quick fix when it comes to stress and performance pressure among young students. It has been called “the death of a thousand cuts” because there are so many complex sources of stress in students' everyday lives.
- It's clear that the physical design must be able to create connection and reduce stress.
- A study environment must be created that unfolds what is learned and makes it so great to study that they choose to stay.
- Teachers must be given far greater opportunities to be role models and culture creators.
In addition, the politically created foundation must be changed so that there is actual time for professional immersion in which students thrive. No deep learning without well-being. Because if we don't do something now, we will once again end up with a new generation that feels pressured even before they have started. That's why our vision is that KP should be in balance and exude love and resonance.
Read the report here: https://www.kennethbalfelt.org/publikation1/sowing-the-seeds-of-love---rapport
In the second part of the exhibition, visitors could explore a retrospective exhibition on the methods developed in a number of previous projects. Here, insights and experiences from the projects will be presented in film, photos, text and book form. The introduction to the methods can also prepare participants to participate in the development process on performance pressure.
The exhibition should not be seen as a finished work, but as a step in an artistic development process that will develop interventions and methods for dealing with performance pressure both in society and in the individual.
Interview of young students at teachers education
Background
One of the greatest challenges of our time is stress, and in recent years there has been a strong focus on mental health, particularly amongst the younger generation. For example, feelings of emptiness, loneliness, stress, anxiety, depression and a sense of meaninglessness. But what can we do about it? How can we make education meaningful – beyond simply conforming to norms and expectations – and is there any evidence on how the physical environment plays a part in this?
Before COVID-19, we saw a growing problem with people suffering from stress, particularly amongst young people at educational institutions across the country. One might think that the change of pace brought about by the pandemic would alleviate many of the causes of people’s stress. However, the 2021 National Health Profile has shown that the mental health of Danes has been on a downward trend over the past 10 years, and that the lockdown of our society merely resulted in new forms of stress. For example, 52 per cent of teacher training students at KP experience stress.
Stress challenges our ability to work, to stay focused and present, to function well and build relationships, our resilience in the face of major challenges and disasters, and, not least, our well-being.
Through this exhibition project, we are harnessing the transformative potential of art to develop methods and tools aimed at enhancing wellbeing, fostering a greater sense of meaning, and strengthening our sense of connection with the world around us.
AIR-method
Many young students feel stressed and therefore have less mental and physical space for activities that promote mental recovery, such as sleeping, meditating, taking breaks, and meeting basic needs like food, rest and self-care. And the more stressed we become, the harder it is to manage that stress – in other words, to recover. We have therefore developed ways of incorporating recovery into our activities. We call this the Activity-Integrated Recovery method (the AIR method). With this method, we replace or supplement balancing measures with preventative measures, rethinking the way we work. Based on the AIR method, we developed a special meeting concept in connection with ‘Mødet på Kunsten’, which was the first phase of the project.
The AIR method is a recurring element in our work on stress and performance pressure, and the meeting concept is also an integral part of the workshops in ‘Sowing the Seeds’ and ‘Love’.
The exhibition
Over the past few decades, the Kenneth Balfelt Team (KBT) has developed artistic methods and theories to address specific societal challenges through, amongst other things, innovative user-involvement processes.
Since 2017, Kenneth Balfelt // Johan August have been working on research and the development of specific initiatives designed to prevent stress in society and amongst individuals. The first stage was an exhibition at Kunsten in Aalborg, where we developed a ‘meeting artwork’, comprising both an innovatively designed meeting space – with nature as a participant – and a meeting guide that incorporates recovery into activities and enhances meaningfulness and creativity. See www.kennethbalfelt.org/mødepåkunsten.
The meeting concept is an integral part of all the workshops in Sowing the Seeds of Love.
Sowing the Seeds of Love consists of two 25 m² ‘drops’ and an outdoor space, situated in the courtyard in front of Kunsthal Charlottenborg. Here, there will be workshops and interviews with visitors and invited guests, who will thus become part of the work’s development by sharing their experiences and engaging in dialogue with the artists.
Kunsthal Charlottenborg
Kunsthal Charlottenborg is one of Northern Europe’s largest exhibition spaces for contemporary art. Every year, Kunsthal Charlottenborg presents uncompromising and agenda-setting art by both Danish and international artists.
Sowing the Seeds of Love
By Kenneth Balfelt Team // Johan August
Soloudstilling at Kunsthal Charlottenborg
4. maj - 7. august 2022
Stress prevention, performance pressure, young students, exhibition, method development