Stop to think – Nau Ivanow
At the end of September, after many months of going around and thinking-hor much, we take the step: we decide to do a post on the networks where we say we stopwhich we need some time for rethink the call what we do from the Nau and also the entire program of residences, leases of spaceetc.
What we were so afraid to admit publicly, that we need to stop and rethink, turns out to have had a very good welcome. Many people tell us: congratulations for doing it, go ahead with the ‘rethinking’, don’t be in a hurry and I’m sure beautiful things will come out of it.
At Nau we have always attached great importance to sincerity, transparency and being able to be a space where the fact of stopping and thinking has the same value as so many other things we do, and I think this step brings everything together.
The other day, in a talk, I heard two sentences that made me think a lot about this writing, one said:We spend more time pretending that everything is going well than doing things that are really going well”and so it is. Often the day to day drags us to not being able or not wanting to stop for fear of what might happen, what they will say or, simply, because we don’t have time to think if what we are doing is really what we want or can do. The other one that made me think: “Are we ready and do we have room for institutional experimentation?”and I think this is the key and that we should ask ourselves more often. This question should lead us to change how we are and how we do things. Just as we give creative freedom to the people who pass through our spaces and encourage them to think, make mistakes, experiment…, institutions should be able to do this more often.
As a result of this stoppage, we put into practice a dynamic that we applied inspired by the NAVE space in Chile. The thing was close the Nau for a week in such a way that the team could reside there with the tranquility of devoting hours and spaces to thinking, reading, sharing and being able to generate collective work spaces between us, without anyone interrupting that debate, that conversation or that dynamic (which is impossible if we don’t close). It might sound silly, though how many times have we resided as a team within our project without any interference? I have to tell you that it was not easy, nor did it turn out as beautiful as we imagined, there are always interruptions, but for the first time, it was good enough, and we already plan to repeat it, at least a couple of times a year.
If we are not able to stop, think, evaluate and redefine projects, we will generate institutions and projects that may be far from reality. Times, needs and conditions change from year to year; therefore, our projects must also mutate and transform, always maintaining their philosophy, but they must remain alive just like the people who inhabit them.
We spend many, many hours on debates, talks, networks, workshops and a thousand activities that create thoughts, however do we have time to land all this, time to assimilate, filter, share and apply all this information and practice we generate? Are we capable, as an institution, of being able to stop and see how what the rest of our colleagues in the sector are doing crosses us and can change us?
There are many questions, doubts and certainties that have arisen in all these days that we have been working indoors. Discussions that will surely make the projects we are thinking about now leave, at least, with a clear will to continue growing. The Nau Ivanow, in its 28 years of history, has mutated, adapted and made a thousand and one projects that make us who we are today. So let’s continue on this path without fear of what will be.
Very soon, we want to share all this reflection with the public, as it is always good to know how the people who will ultimately be the main protagonists of any change see it, live it and feel it: the people who make the Nau a living space.
After all, as we always say, it’s not the things we do, it’s how we do things.
An article by David Marin, director of Nau Ivanow.
