"Art-based Dialogue with Karen" - hosted from Lithuania - every week Friday at 5 pm EESTABD is a series of weekly conversations about unique works of art, with people from all the walks of life. They take place every Friday from 5-6 pm EEST and anyone can join. The language spoken is English, but we don’t expect perfect grammar nor do we expect any art expertise on your behalf. Participants are invited to share what they see in the artworks or what they experience while looking at it. The more points of view the group can generate, the richer the experience is for everyone, so people are usually very supportive of one another. Karen’s favourite facilitation style is to invite simple observations and personal associations. She prefers brief comments are over lengthy stories, because this get more ideas flowing! During the dialogue she chooses not to provide any theoretical framework, nor about the art, nor about the artists. Afterwards she may share snippets of knowledge to support some of the unique discoveries you made! Her goal is not to increase your knowledge about the art, but to increase your knowledge about yourself. “When I manage to hear and validate only half of the ideas that are being voiced during a single encounter, I am quite happy” she says, “and I’m always trying to improve my listening skills! So please let me know if I misunderstood you!”. “Not being heard is often what hampers people’s communication and I pride myself in being a willing listener! Not a perfect listener!”. “By giving myself room to grow in this process I also give you room to grow as a participant. We might misunderstand one another at times and this is normal. The trick is to work through that and not become reactive”. Karen’s ABD has been favourably described as “a connecting experience” and as “a way to free up some bandwidth at the end of a busy week!”. Let Karen know when you are ready to try a session!
Karen records and publishes interviews about Art-based Dialogue in a monthly podcast.
Karen’s goal is to firmly integrate Art-based Dialogue into our repertoire of communication strategies. She sets out to talk with people in different fields, such as education, therapy, healing, legal mediation and activism, to hear if there are other ways that communities can effectively position art, at the core of our changing society. Bertholt Brecht allegedly said that “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it!”. However, art is also a luxury product, and because of this preciousness, it doesn’t always fulfil its role as a catalyst for change. How could we make it so that more people can enjoy art and grow with it?