SLOW-THINKING LABORATORIES: Can they turn loneliness into creative solitude?

Application summary

Loneliness is a huge problem for people of all ages in contemporary society; large numbers of people report that they feel lonely, and that this is a major life problem for them. To be alone is different from feeling lonely. We hypothesise that: 1) People feel lonely when they lack any sense of connection with others and with their environment, or within themselves. We believe that the sense of loneliness is about the fragmentation of life and society, leading to a loss of meaningful connections with our real selves, as well as with others and the environment we live in 2) Encounters with art and nature can help reconnect us within ourselves, and with our environment, even if such encounters take place ‘alone’. At Saaren Kartano residence, we come together to review our individual research projects of the past two years. These research projects are each a version of a "Slow-Thinking Laboratory" (STL). Here, each practitioner share their experience of running an STL of their own design and in their own environment. Each share impressions of the value of their own STL, including any impact on feelings of loneliness. We teach and give feed back to each other about our individual research in the form of workshops, rituals, ceremonies, and treatments - and follow up with reflections and analysis. Finally, we will collate the findings and plan how to present them publicly in the form of exhibitions, publications, short films or whatever other medium we see fit.