Happiness Clinic in Amsterdam: an ONLINE version
In reaction to the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on mental health, we propose to you to co-create and co-curate with us “Happiness Clinic”, an online ephemeral clinic, which will offer “artistic treatments”, cures, cares and therapies, in form of online, both individual and group, participative performances ("séances") to celebrate joy, happiness, and spread positivity in today's uncertain world.
During 3 hours, the “Happiness Clinic” will open its virtual doors on the web, and encourage the public to participate in a 5-minutes-long interactive individual or group artistic healing action ("séance"). These “séances” will be curated alongside three topics (“Care”, “Creation”, “Connection”), and all of them will cope with a variety of mental health and psychological problems, such as stress, anxiety, insomnia, denial and fear, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. All of them will mix a performance art form (eg. dance, ceremony, ritual, care, celebration..) with a wellbeing, healing or therapeutic practice (eg. naturopathy, aromatherapy, relaxation, dietetics, massage, reflexology, meditation, hair care, body care, ayurvedic care, stretching, pilates, tai chi chuan...). And all of them will be interactive, and engage actively the participant(s).
During 3 hours, the “Happiness Clinic” will open its virtual doors on the web, and encourage the public to participate in a 5-minutes-long interactive individual or group artistic healing action ("séance"). These “séances” will be curated alongside three topics (“Care”, “Creation”, “Connection”), and all of them will cope with a variety of mental health and psychological problems, such as stress, anxiety, insomnia, denial and fear, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. All of them will mix a performance art form (eg. dance, ceremony, ritual, care, celebration..) with a wellbeing, healing or therapeutic practice (eg. naturopathy, aromatherapy, relaxation, dietetics, massage, reflexology, meditation, hair care, body care, ayurvedic care, stretching, pilates, tai chi chuan...). And all of them will be interactive, and engage actively the participant(s).
Online social sustainability
Online social sustainability combines design of the virtual realm with design of the social world – a hybrid space to support artistic and cultural exchange, promote community building and engagement, a creative platform for projects to develop and people to interact and evolve.
Sustainable online community is a community where everyone from the world can thrive and flourish – they are interactive, vibrant and inclusive and support both our individual and collective sense of well-being. It is about intercultural exchange, people, and the relationships between them.
The main purpose of “Happiness Clinic” is to build sustainable online communities through the practice of performance and dance, and therefore improve peoples’ mental health and wellbeing.
Sustainable online community is a community where everyone from the world can thrive and flourish – they are interactive, vibrant and inclusive and support both our individual and collective sense of well-being. It is about intercultural exchange, people, and the relationships between them.
The main purpose of “Happiness Clinic” is to build sustainable online communities through the practice of performance and dance, and therefore improve peoples’ mental health and wellbeing.
Supporting others' mental wellbeing
There is a lot art can do to help people during this time. A report from the WHO, published in 2019, has concluded that engaging in art-based activities can significantly benefit health, both mentally and physically. Engaging people in activities such as dancing, singing and creating provides an added dimension to how people can improve their physical and mental health.
In “Happiness Clinic”, 9 interactive online, both one-on-one and group "séances" will be imagined by 9 The Netherland-based artists along three complementary and transversal axes to cope with the impact of COVID-19 on mental health:
In “Happiness Clinic”, 9 interactive online, both one-on-one and group "séances" will be imagined by 9 The Netherland-based artists along three complementary and transversal axes to cope with the impact of COVID-19 on mental health:
- Care of the body: 3 "séances"
- Creation and co-creation: 3 "séances"
- Connection with others, community-building: 3 "séances"
Supporting local artists
The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic particularly threatens the future of artists, creators and cultural operators, who are severely impacted by the enforcement of social distancing measures and the consequent postponements, cancellations or closures of events. As the OECD demonstrates in a recent report, the risks are high for creators, artists and those working in the entertainment sector – a group of workers who are already vulnerable.
As a response to this situation, in the “Happiness Clinic” we want to cooperate with 9 local artists, so as to redistribute the earned grant locally, ethically and equally. Every participating artist, selected through a transparent open call, will receive a decent fee.
As a response to this situation, in the “Happiness Clinic” we want to cooperate with 9 local artists, so as to redistribute the earned grant locally, ethically and equally. Every participating artist, selected through a transparent open call, will receive a decent fee.
Transparent open call
With the local partner, we will issue and jury a thematic open call, and encourage local artists and collectives to apply.
Through a completely transparent selection process, a jury will choose nine proposals (3 / axe) belonging to all kinds of aesthetics including non-representative, non-canonical, marginal, experimental forms.
So as to avoid “seeing the same names everywhere”, we will also pay attention to select artists with none or very few experiences. We are also dedicated to build a broadly diverse and inclusive staff representing all races, ethnicities, ages, genders and backgrounds.
Through a completely transparent selection process, a jury will choose nine proposals (3 / axe) belonging to all kinds of aesthetics including non-representative, non-canonical, marginal, experimental forms.
So as to avoid “seeing the same names everywhere”, we will also pay attention to select artists with none or very few experiences. We are also dedicated to build a broadly diverse and inclusive staff representing all races, ethnicities, ages, genders and backgrounds.
An open call for participative online "séances"
Applicants’ proposal must be, in terms of form:
In terms of concept, applications must develop one of the three axes:
- A mixture between a performance art form (eg. dance, ceremony, ritual, care, celebration..) and a wellbeing, healing or therapeutic practice (eg. naturopathy, aromatherapy, relaxation, dietetics, massage, reflexology, meditation, hair care, body care, ayurvedic care, stretching, pilates, tai chi chuan...)
- Participatory, and engage actively the participant(s)
- If it is a one-on-one "séance": Last 5 minutes and can be repeated several times in row during the 3 hours
- If it is a group "séance": Last max 20 minutes and can be repeated several times in row during the 3 hours
In terms of concept, applications must develop one of the three axes:
- Axe 1 – Care of the body, development of self-confidence and encouragement of self-care and self-love through the use of sport, dance and movement exercises.
- Axe 2 – Creation and co-creation through alternative, experimental and horizontal learning and unlearning processes preferably using marginal forms (ballroom dance, nightclub dance, street dance…) and aesthetics (eg. narrative...).
- Axe 3 – Connection with others and community-building activities are seen as a “call for gathering” for friendship, reciprocal support, collective study on a particular subject/issue, and tooling. These are simply human experiences which go beyond relational aesthetics by introducing the production of knowledge and the sharing of skills and tools in addition to the creation of friendly and safe spaces.
Exemples
A few exemples of what would easily fit in the category of "participative online séance", sharing the values of "simple", "humble", "generous".
Axe 1 – Care of the body (exemple of a group "séance")
A few examples of what "participative online séance" does NOT mean:
- Conducted group yoga and relaxation with imaginary empowerment stories instead of regular instructions.
- Co-choreography with the artist your personal morning ritual.
- Write a love letter to the person you never dared to. Select one person from the group, rehearse your confession.
A few examples of what "participative online séance" does NOT mean:
- Performances which don’t deconstruct the traditional hierarchy between artists and public, and maintain the distinction between those who create / perform and those who watch.
- Where the artist does not elevate participants onto their level and treat them as equals.
Timing
- 2 months before the opening of the “Happiness Clinic”: Open Call for proposals from 9 local artists / collectives
- 1,5 month before the opening:
- Administration (contract agreements with the selected artists)
- 1 month before the opening:
- Organization, schedule
- 3 weeks before the opening
- Operational digital communication
- Operational PR and Press
- 2 weeks before the opening
- Operational digital communication
- 1 week before the opening
- Opening of the “Happiness Clinic”: 3 hours of free participatory one-on-one and group "séances" providing positivity, happiness, joy, wellbeing, self-care and self-love against the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.
- After the happening
- Edition of an online open digital booklet
- 1 Follow-up group workshop for the participating artists
Dissemination, follow-up, sharing
- Online "séances": Everybody having an internet connection can register for an online one-on-one or group "séance".
- Online short tutorials: Every "séance" will be accompanied by a short online tutorial, allowing the public to make and remake it alone, on their own, following the happening.
- Digital booklet: These online short tutorials together with "séance" descriptions will be gathered and edited in a digital booklet. This open resource will be accessible for everyone: teachers, social workers, practitioners together with the general public can have access to it, and use the shared practices for personal or professional purposes.
Ethics and values
“Happiness Clinic” is an online community art project which aims to be responsible, ethically engaged and socially impactful through its concept and form by:
- Coping with the mental and psychological consequences of the pandemic
- Building micro-communities, human connections, interactions after a long period of social distancing and isolation
- Go online: open the project to a wider public
- Promoting contemporary dance and performance through simple, humble and generous interactive actions, understandable and appreciable by everyone
- Putting the emphasis on emotions, joy, happiness and human relations
- Giving financial support for local artists
- Promoting less-known, less-visible artists as well
- Showing unrepresented, oppositional, “out of the box” aesthetics as well
Curating and community building as artistic practices
Through a curatorial form, we wish to create an alternative system of thinking and behaving, based on cooperation (instead of competition), participation (instead of passive spectatorship) and engagement.
“Happiness Clinic” frees itself from the obsession with the new, the career, the exposure and the haste to overproduce, that this overall race for novelty and overconsumption generate.
“Happiness Clinic” is an anti-fast art, an apology for slowness, a dazzling, passionate and generous platform for small actions and sustainable changes.
“Happiness Clinic” frees itself from the obsession with the new, the career, the exposure and the haste to overproduce, that this overall race for novelty and overconsumption generate.
“Happiness Clinic” is an anti-fast art, an apology for slowness, a dazzling, passionate and generous platform for small actions and sustainable changes.
A bit about us
Anna Ádám is a Franco-Hungarian visual artist and performance maker whose work blurs the boundaries between choreography, image, and object, with emphasis on the body and on the movement as the central forms of expression. She studied performance and fashion before obtaining her Master of Arts from the ENSAPC Art School in Cergy, France, in 2016. By combining performing arts, visual arts and curatorial practices, Anna Ádám’s work transgresses normative discourses, challenges gender boundaries, systems of representation, standards of beauty together with the established codes of the fashionable body.
Anna Ádám also considers workshops, community building activities and curatorial practices as part of her main artistic medium. At the intersection of an art workshop and an interactive performance, in the form of "thematic movement research laboratories", private one-on-one "séances", experimental learning and unlearning sessions, Art Fitness classes and JAM LABS, she creates and curates social and spatial contexts, develops new forms of collective aesthetics based on participation, connection, and physical presence.
Anna Ádám also participated as a performance artist to external projects (Palais de Tokyo (FR), Musée Georges Pompidou (FR)...). Since 2016 she presents regularly her work in both theaters (E-Werk Kul- turzentrum (DE), Theater MU (HU), National Theater (HU), Piccolo Tea- tro (DE)...) and exhibition spaces (Ludwig Museum (HU), Museum of Modern Art Yerevan (AM), National Museum of History Paris (FR)...), and holds workshops in universities across Europe (Austria, France, Hungary, Serbia, Armenia...). In 2019 she gave seminars at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (AT) and at the University of Artois (FR). In 2020 she is resident artist at the Mediterranean Dance Center (HT) and at ZFinMalta (MT). In 2021 she will collaborate with Dance City Theater (UK), La Générale (FR), Abbaye de Maubuisson (FR) and teach with the ZeroPlus Dance School (HU) and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy (FR).
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Gray Box: Created as a collective in 2014, and founded as a company in 2018, Gray Box’s work takes interest in going beyond the boundaries between "white cube" and "black box": choreography, image and object, by emphasizing the body and movement as central forms of expression. Based on trans-disciplinary research and collective experimentation, our company creates, curates and produces, in all horizontality, a body of work with a strong political, ecological and social dimension. We consider the moving body together with its immaterial aspects - such as perception, empathy, emotions, intuitions - as a political tool to forge emancipated communities, create social connections and human interactions.
MORE...
Anna Ádám also considers workshops, community building activities and curatorial practices as part of her main artistic medium. At the intersection of an art workshop and an interactive performance, in the form of "thematic movement research laboratories", private one-on-one "séances", experimental learning and unlearning sessions, Art Fitness classes and JAM LABS, she creates and curates social and spatial contexts, develops new forms of collective aesthetics based on participation, connection, and physical presence.
Anna Ádám also participated as a performance artist to external projects (Palais de Tokyo (FR), Musée Georges Pompidou (FR)...). Since 2016 she presents regularly her work in both theaters (E-Werk Kul- turzentrum (DE), Theater MU (HU), National Theater (HU), Piccolo Tea- tro (DE)...) and exhibition spaces (Ludwig Museum (HU), Museum of Modern Art Yerevan (AM), National Museum of History Paris (FR)...), and holds workshops in universities across Europe (Austria, France, Hungary, Serbia, Armenia...). In 2019 she gave seminars at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (AT) and at the University of Artois (FR). In 2020 she is resident artist at the Mediterranean Dance Center (HT) and at ZFinMalta (MT). In 2021 she will collaborate with Dance City Theater (UK), La Générale (FR), Abbaye de Maubuisson (FR) and teach with the ZeroPlus Dance School (HU) and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy (FR).
MORE...
Gray Box: Created as a collective in 2014, and founded as a company in 2018, Gray Box’s work takes interest in going beyond the boundaries between "white cube" and "black box": choreography, image and object, by emphasizing the body and movement as central forms of expression. Based on trans-disciplinary research and collective experimentation, our company creates, curates and produces, in all horizontality, a body of work with a strong political, ecological and social dimension. We consider the moving body together with its immaterial aspects - such as perception, empathy, emotions, intuitions - as a political tool to forge emancipated communities, create social connections and human interactions.
MORE...
Our former online projects
Thematic repertoire class, 2020 © Gray Box
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The "Secret Garden" performance, 2020 © Gray Box
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Creative yoga, 2020 © Gray Box
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Outdoor wellbeing livestreaming, 2020 © Gray Box
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Kid's Theater, 2020 © Gray Box
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Creative gym, 2020 © Gray Box