(1) Sara Del Bene
(1) Artist and organizational well-being consultant - www.saradelbene.it
Abstract:
An immersive, dynamic and rooted art installation with a digital detox twist.
Sara Del Bene will explore the role as contemporary artist in community-building. There is a desire to see the audience not merely as spectators, but also as actors, with new art forms that focus on relationships and creating a community. Del Bene will illustrate her research, through her experience as a group facilitator, and her vision of art as a tool for social cohesion.
This article is an attempt to describe a personal journey and a practice that wants to incorporate art, community building and heritage with installations that can be described as immersive, dynamic and rooted.
With a people-centered vision, where the objective is to create a festive and playful event that invites the public to engage with the artwork, in a digital detox space.
How can an artistic intervention create engagement? This question can summarize my recent studies and projects. The challenge is including art, community and heritage, proposing artworks that are an exercise of collective creativity. My practice shifted from sculpture and photography towards participatory and site-specific installations. My vision as an artist is strongly influenced by my work experience as a consultant in Human Resources, in particular in organizational well-being. (It concerns all aspects of working life, promoting a culture to improve all employees’ physical, mental, and social well-being).
Over the years, also the perception of creativity,(as the capacity to imagine, to create new ideas etcc..) shifted, enhancing it as a tool for participation and social commitment. Creativity is also one of the most wanted soft skills for managers today. Understanding the power of it for our growth and well-being, led me to develop workshops and installations that investigate and encourage creative behaviours.
My research today focuses on the power of art as a social coherer. I have found in site-specific installations the tool that allows me to investigate this aspect.
I collaborated with local institutions on large scale installations in public venues. A site-specific installation relates first and foremost to a venue, a community, a living space. These relationships are very interesting and have allowed me to explore numerous materials and techniques. These artistic interventions gave me the opportunity to collaborate with artists from different backgrounds and associations, sharing a common space and a common vision with the community.
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Attempting to describe an artistic research without talking about a specific project is a complex exercise, because each project has its own characteristics but there are elements that are always present and that somehow have defined my work over the years.
The installations want to be immersive, dynamic and interactive, transitory but rooted.
The decision to develop immersive installation is related to a people-centered approach. There is a desire to see the audience not merely as spectators, but also as actors. It concerns the physical aspect of the artistic intervention, where the visitor is at the center. The artwork surrounds the visitors and makes them the protagonist. The person who passes through the site has the possibility of observing it from multiple perspectives. To be immersive, I believe the work must also be accessible, it need to be inclusive for all. The structure wants to invite the public to interact with it.
A static artwork doesn’t correspond to the idea of community building. I am looking for a dynamic feature. Dynamism is a feeling that can be given both by the material and by the interaction of the public with the place. The artwork wants to inspire movement. A dynamism that can also be given by the daylight that irradiate the installation at different times of the day, therefore changes its appearance. The artworks are also designed to enhance the sense of touch, for inclusive interaction, and for an audience of all ages. The installations aim to recall craftsmanship, the ability to work with our hands. Touch is an essential part of the therapeutic approach to art. Touch is the most extensive sense in humans and the least developed. The research on tactile artwork is linked to the aspect of digital detox and playfulness. With touch, barriers fall, and the accessibility of the creative world opens up.
The transitory aspect is linked to change; a site-specific installation, the artwork, without the site no longer exists. The installation is therefore ephemeral, it serves a certain purpose for a limited time. Like a performance, an installation can be temporary but can be deeply rooted to the context where it has been developed. Rooted, refers to the terrain where the artwork is, the association with the heritage, the people, all is connected. The installations are site-specific, conceived and created for a specific area. They aim to intervene and transform the perception of a space. These works therefore dialogue with a pre-existing area; they do not start from a blank canvas.
These characteristics are part of the vision of the artistic interventions in recent community building projects.
The purpose is to enhance the site, its traditions and the community with which it interacts. An open dialogue with the local institutions for these projects is essential, I seek inspiration in the vision of the territory space, being the past, present or future. For example, in a building in transition, we can draw inspiration from its past or future urban development projects. The essential is to remain “rooted”, coherent with the identity of the place.
Concerning this type of intervention, preparatory research work is essential, the assessment of the site is the moment to observe the context, its dynamic, the interaction with the elements that could be a tree, a group of people, and the traffic in a nearby street. The observation unlocks a vision. In parallel the preparatory work consists in an open dialogue with the institutions, the community the history, in a word about its heritage, the identity. The understanding unwraps a project proposal that wants to align with its identity and history also through the choice of the materials. An installation is made of materials, objects. (An example an installation in an abandoned textile industrial site, the main element of the artwork was fabric. The physical feature recalls the artisan history of the building where the installation was created.)
The artistic projects have been influenced by my experience as a teambuilding facilitator over the years. In 2018 I founded Well-Being ART Work, an initiative investigates the link between Creativity and Well-Being and offers creative workshops for events such as teambuilding with art as tool. The experience has deeply enriched my artistic journey and has pushed me to explore more and more the theme of social cohesion through art. Art is a powerful tool that unites communities and working with creativity stimulates positive and lasting bonds. Today we know that art has therapeutic characteristics whether we refer to visiting a museum or painting. The active element, that is, creating art has mental and physical beneficial effects. We can observe today in bookshops, for example, coloring books for adults to manage stress. Art and creative behaviors help us feel better. When I refer to art, I am referring to any creative activity that combines movement, like drawing, decorating furniture, crocheting, even gardening, or cooking. Experts recommend dedicating time to this type of activities for our mental well-being.
I have introduced these therapeutic characteristics of art with my experience in human resources to improve the cohesion of the group. These workshops lead the group to create for example a painting together. Everything is done in co-creation, from the design, the choice of materials. The realization of a unique artwork strengthens the dialogue among the participants.
Producing a collective artwork highlight everyone's individuality, celebrates diversity and reinforces the sense of belonging while respecting individuality. As well as amplifying the sense of belonging to a community; enhancing the experience of being together. It is an ephemeral experiment that brings with it positive values. Every teambuilding is a unique event. It is tailor made, as every team, each organization is different, as can be different the objectives to be achieved.
The parallelism between a community building in a public space and the teambuilding for an organization is immediate.
These two worlds have met and somehow enriched each other. I am discovering and learning continuously from the workshops for well-being at work and team cohesion. I have refined some workshops following the experimentations and feedbacks. I wat to put forward the elements of my organizational well-being practice that could be transposed into events for a wider audience
The well-being aspects on the artistic interventions
Those are elements that are directly linked to studies on the therapeutic trays of art. Thinking about the experience of the visitor to make it a pleasant event, a fulfilling experience, make it the best experience possible for a large public, taking into consideration, inclusion and diversity objectives.
A non-digital approach to celebrate the moment?
A festive environment can help to create a good atmosphere (to be able to work more productively in a group). The attempt is to recreate a joyful event, being together is always a moment to celebrate. For this reason, some installations in public places remind of adornments. The participant in a group, like the visitor of a public space where there is an installation must feel welcomed. The invitation is celebratory, immersive installations put the visitor at the center in a festive spirit. I have been lucky enough to work with institutions, municipalities, where this aspect has been exalted, thanks to initiatives born with the local community around a particular event.
A digital detox approach is a choice that wants to value the tactile aspects of materials. Promoting a quality human-to human interaction means to me also creating a simple environment. There is a need lately for digital detox environments, that are today synonymous of pace and serenity. By experience we know that ideas and dialogue in a group are flowing better when the environment is free from technologies that constantly distract us. For this reason, I chose to use materials that stimulate the material approach, the touch. And that refer to a certain craftsmanship. The installations created for example do not need electricity and can be placed safely outdoor.
An element that helps the public to approach the installation is to be able to stimulate curiosity. A way to develop that is to attempt to make a playful atmosphere. Such environment creates interaction, exchange. Inviting the participants to connect. The playful aspect helps us to build community. Trigger our inner child, encourage curiosity towards the world and the people that are around us. It fosters a dialogue.
I would like to continue investigating the role of art as social cohesion tool, engaging, learning and developing with local communities in creating moments that enhance art, community and heritage.