Dare to be alive!

In our efforts to achieve a more sustainable way of life, many of us - whether organizations, politicians or citizens – fail to realise how much our perception is dominated by a technically-mediated, lifeless image of reality, long framed by the conventional academic disciplines. Our capacity to make the world and ourselves more alive, and in so doing, more sustainable and beautiful, is often disregarded - preventing us from moving forward.  

Yet, we can rediscover and reclaim our individual aliveness and that of the wider world – through actively practising conscious existence and creative imagination.

Space for co-creative working

From summer 2015 onward, we will initiate “enlivenment workshops” spanning various fields, including economics, education, agriculture, politics, banking and science. Each workshop will be held in cooperation with an institution or organisation from the relevant field. The series will be defined by a common exploration of the concept of "enlivenment" as basis and perspective for a sustainable civilisation.

Each participant (in a group of up to twelve per workshop) is invited to engange with a concern that, although regulary present in oneself or one´s field of work, would not ordinarily be addressed in the course of day-to-day business. The intent is to initiate a process and establish a framework that moves beyond the exchange of opinions, judgments, theories and positions. We call this a predisciplinary approach.  

Results

These modes of experiencing, questioning and imagining allow for new impulses, ideas and insights to arise, grow and deepen. In this way, a space for emerging phenomena and co-creativity can be activated between participants – a space for cultures of enlivenment.

The workshop results will be considered collective property, allowing outcomes to be immediately disseminated and applied in the relevant professional fields.

Duration and Location

Each workshop is ideally intended to take place over three days. We suggest locations that capture a particular element of contemporary daily life. This may be a place where the drudgery and homogeneity of life in a capitalist society becomes apparent - e.g. an industrial food production site, a run-down suburb, or other monocultural landscape - or, conversely, a place where space is available for conscious reflection on life, such as a hospice.

Hildegard Kurt and Andreas Weber will accompany all workshops.