Welcome to the latest excerpt from my e-book Near and Far, a collage of interviews about the arts and creativity as a transversal process within interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary collaborations.
Illustrations are by Rebecca Stewart.
If you want more information about the interviewees, then check out this post here.
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A little bit of friction
Interviewee: Monika Jiang, House of Beautiful Business
Meredith: It seemed like we went through this interesting time in the pandemic and then there were cries to go back to normal, and I thought, I don't like normal. I've never liked normal. Lockdown is actually an opportunity. And then afterwards, it seems as if we have gone back to normal. And I've been wondering about that and a little worried that we were shoved back there instead of embracing change. But things must have shifted. You can't go through what we all went through and not have that happen. But I haven't been able to really put my finger on what precisely. I think we're all still processing.
Monika: I think so.
Meredith: I think the arts help you process things like that because they're a space you can project the things that don't have words yet, or things that might have words, but they're messy. The arts are great at working with mess, you know, in a generative way.
So, we know that the House of Beautiful Business does beautiful big spectacles, but it also can host smaller more intimate conversations. And I guess there's a flow through of the same sensibility of looking for that space of exploration and for imagining. As you said before, so many people out there say, I'm not creative. And I think you can't be human and upright and not be not creative.
Monika: I so agree.
Meredith: It's a matter of giving people space to find a relationship with that side of themselves. And of course, people long for it because it's an instinctual need. So, it's really interesting and lovely to hear that you find that people are longing for it.
I did want to ask about resistance. As producers and curators of highly creative events and experiences, do you ever encounter resistance? And what does it look like?
Monika: Yes, for sure. I think probably before the pandemic, there was a lot of resistance in the sense of questioning general relevance: why, why, why? Why do we need that? That seems like a luxury problem to solve. Why is that necessary? We have to do business.
And maybe people tried to understand (the value of creative experiences) from a cultural perspective of making people feel okay so that they'll stay in the organization with, you know, wellbeing programs and whatever. But there was never really the actual understanding that that's just one part of what we're trying to achieve. But of course, the premise of the House is bigger, and the hope is bigger. So, now I would say there's still, of course, resistance but I don't think there's a lot of questioning anymore of why this is necessary. I think not only because of the pandemic, but everything that happened after with the great resignation and people individually in society being like, I don't want to do this anymore, I actually will quit my job, I will not put up with this anymore.
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