Travel
This summer many people were on the road again. Traveling to familiar or unfamiliar areas. They moved away to temporarily be away from where their lives are, they went on vacation. If you search the web for the usefulness of vacationing, you will come across several reasons, including health reasons: people recover on vacation from the stress of daily life. In fact, research has shown that people who do not go on vacation are more likely to be sick and die sooner.
Other reasons for vacations are about the time freed up for good conversation with our loved ones that brings us closer together. There is room for new ideas, room to listen to each other and think about what the other is saying.
...meeting other people, with different customs, different ways of thinking and living, a different cultural background....
What doesn't come up easily as a reason to go on vacation is meeting other people, with different habits, different ways of thinking and living, a different cultural background. People with whom we are there and then often the only common ground is that we are in the same place at that moment. It is the kind of encounters that can enrich our lives in every way.
The latter is one of the reasons for artists to travel during an artist-in-residency. A period of undisturbed work, reflection, making plans at a location somewhere in the world, often in the presence of fellow artists. In this way, artists forge international networks for life, which is not only enriching for the artists in question, but also for the art world as a whole.
The importance, not to mention the pleasure, of artist-in-residencies can be read again in each edition of BK Information in the artist column. Personal stories of long stays abroad or in the interior, far away or close by. The stories tell of knowing the other and the otherness and of the influence this has on one's work and life.
... a new perspective on one's own work and a new position in the art world
Like vacations, a work sojourn abroad offers space for new ideas, space to listen to colleagues, from around the world, and to think about what the other person is saying. It offers a new perspective on one's own work and a new position in the art world. And in almost all cases handles to continue with the artistic development and contacts around the world that often prove of great professional value in the future and sometimes lead to deep friendships.
Now in September, we are back from vacation. Perhaps your vacation was a mini artist-in-residence from which you returned full of ideas, new contacts and inspiration for a new creative season. But perhaps, on the other hand, you are one of the lucky few who manages to find this enrichment just around the corner.
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