Parallel to the series 52-part podcast It can also be different appear at
BK Information eight essays on topics that touch on the subject of the podcast and/or come up in the interviews. The first introductory short essay examines the concepts of change and transition.
There are many theories and philosophies about change. One is that of the philosopher Georg Hegel. He saw reality as a continuous process of thought and development of the mind. Change occurs through a dialectical process: a thesis (an idea or state of affairs) evokes its antithesis (an opposition or conflict), and from the tension between them a synthesis emerges: a new level that unites elements of both. The synthesis then becomes a new thesis, and so the development goes on and on. Such a synthesis today we might call "an opportunity. Concepts of change and transition are also subject to change.
Anyone who googles "change" and "transition" will quickly land on a range of management sites
If you google "change" and "transition," you quickly come across a host of management sites that focus on managing change. This guiding of change not infrequently involves managing expectations: an important task of many a director or executive. In the podcast It can also be different may not be about managers guiding transitions and adjusting expectations, yet the same questions come up regularly: how do you deal with a new reality when important things around your work and in your life change?
how do you deal with a new reality when important things around your work and in your life change?
For the human brain, change is not always easy. Certainly not when it comes to changes you have not asked for yourself or when it comes to changes around which no pattern of expectations has yet been constructed. The human brain reacts violently to profound changes, or transitions. Old systems, routines and certainties must make way for new ones and that process brings uncertainty and resistance, but also - and yes, there you have it - opportunities.
Many things usually happen in a lifetime that force us to seek a different approach: changes in relationships, in your family, health, interests, where you live, et cetera. As we saw, most changes or transitions lead back to new change. For creators, it can lead to changes in what is made or what can be made. And that in turn can lead to restlessness, uncertainty, perhaps even despair. A transition can then be experienced as a crisis.
The word crisis comes from the Greek (krinein) and literally means "decision, judgment, dispute
Many transitions, by the way, come precisely from crisis. The word crisis comes from the Greek (krinein) and literally means "decision, judgment, dispute. Van Dale also describes the ancient meaning of crisis as "turn" or "turning point. Like Hegel, it also means that things are always in flux and new things are created that way.
In a period of transition, there is always "loss of the old. Our brain wants to keep us safe and alive; major transitions do not fit into that and are perceived as threatening. Although many of the current threats in the part of the world where we live are no longer life-threatening, our brain still protects us as if they are. As a result, it is not easy to have to say goodbye to familiar habits, roles or systems.
Our brain wants to keep us safe and alive; large transitions do not fit into that and are perceived as threatening
In a transition, we go from one phase to another, and between that old and new phase lies uncertainty and ambiguity, which not infrequently feels like an outright crisis. What does this change mean for the rest of my life? Old insecurities or patterns do not answer that question. Confusing, but it also gives room for new ideas and new patterns. These can be experimented with during such a period, for example with new behaviors, new systems or ways of thinking. Something new can eventually emerge from the chaos in that transition phase. A new situation or way of working that we will slowly internalize and form a new reality.
Last October 1, the company 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?
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