On Oct. 1, 2025 launched BK Information her new podcast. Under the title (and subtitle) It can also be different. On tipping points in artists' practice speaks philosopher and art expert Esther Didden a visual artist every week for a year about changes and transitions in their work. It's about tipping points - internally or externally motivated - that had and have great or lesser impact on their work. What uncertainties did the artists face and what did the transition they went through benefit them? Parallel to the podcast series Xandra Nibbeling eight essays on topics related to the subject of the podcast and/or covered in the interviews.
In the first episodes of the 52-part BK podcast It can also be different. On tipping points in artists' practice the value of rest came up several times. What does rest mean for being an artist, why is it so difficult to allow it, and why is it important to do so from time to time?
Visual artists focus on making, presenting and being visible. A full agenda, deadlines for exhibitions and communication on social media are a given. In that rhythm, rest quickly becomes a luxury or even a sign of inaction. Yet rest is an important part of the artistic process. Especially at times of change in work or life, rest is important not only for recovery, but also as a source of renewal.
Rest could be thought of as the absence of activity. Modern man spends most of his time doing, producing and planning. Little room is left to be present in the moment. Those who are constantly engaged in making, or at least the process involved in making, may at some point get stuck or risk losing touch with their original motivation.
Preparation, incubation, illumination and elaboration
Rest can also be seen as part of your work process. Because in rest, space is created to reflect on the why of the work. What do I actually want to explore? Where does my need to create come from? What is my story? Such questions can take a back seat during a busy period. Rest makes it possible to look again, both at one's own work and at one's position as a maker. In nothingness, it sometimes works better to let ideas settle and develop.
As early as 1926, British social psychologist Graham Wallas described how creative processes consist of different phases: in the incubation phase, nothing seems to be happening on the surface, but subconsciously ideas are actually being put in order. That phase requires time and distance, or rest. For the visual artist, this can mean that it is good to literally leave the studio from time to time. Taking some distance from the work in order to see it with new eyes.
Rest makes it possible to look again
Rest is also important in the case of a turning point in one's artistry - for example, a change of theme, medium or stage of life. After all, such moments are often accompanied by uncertainty. It can be tempting to move on quickly, start something new, or fill the void with activity. Rest provides an opportunity not to act immediately, but to first explore what is really going on. In this sense, rest is part of the work. Like the drying of paint or the hardening of material, it is a phase in which something develops in the background.
During moments of apparent inactivity, your brain is busy processing information
Moreover, rest is essential for brain functioning. It promotes self-reflection, remembering and making new connections. In fact, during rest, our brain goes into a kind of standby mode, or, in other words, the Default Mode Network is activated. This network is most active when our mind is least engaged in a task. It is a brain network involved in a range of "metacognitive" processes, including self-reflection, mental time travel, theory of mind (the ability to imagine mental states in others) and generate stories about ourselves that help create a sense of having a stable self over time. So during moments of apparent inactivity, your brain is busy processing information, consolidating memories and exploring new ideas.
Rest is another form of work
Rest, then, is not so much a break as a different form of work - one in which listening is more important than producing and in which the brain goes to work in a different way, less controlled by our cognition, and in which control is released. In that quiet, new connections, reappraisals and decisions emerge that can later be shaped in the visible work. Those who have the courage to do nothing are working on a more lasting foundation.
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