Vita Activa

Imagine a world where you can ask for an hour of someone’s time in exchange for an hour of yours. Imagine that something you love to do is valuable to some one else and you receive something in return that you treasure. Imagine that the other person is a complete stranger. Someone with whom you get to talk and who teaches you how to make a traditional lasagna in exchange for a lesson in lindy hop.

Daniel Linehan, Michael Helland and Anneleen Keppens of dance company Hiatus developed a workshop in which a group gathers for one week to play with the concepts of work and time. They drew inspiration from the ideas around time banking and the vision of the working life by the philosopher Hannah Arendt who devised the term “vita activa”. The workshop is an artistic project in which the dance studio becomes a free space for a group of people, with or without artistic backgrounds, who have never worked together before.

In the Vita Activa workshop, participants explore the purpose of work in society and their personal role in it. They are given artistic tools to look at their skills and knowledge with new eyes and to search for opportunities to share them. The process is a creative game in which everyone is equal and learns to uncover the potential for valuable interactions with others.

A different perception of the value of work emerges, and boundaries between types of work blur. A retired teacher may teach all about edible wild plants to the economics student who in turn shares tactical moves in a game of chess. Perhaps someone repairs your bicycle in exchange for an hour of gardening. The goal is to grow into a temporary community and develop an alternative economy.

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Credits

Concept Daniel Linehan
In collaboration with Michael Helland
Artistic assistance Anneleen Keppens

Vita Activa at STUK is co-funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe program as part of DANCE ON, PASS ON, DREAM ON

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