If you follow STUDIO &lotte on social media, you have probably already seen it. A few weeks ago, I launched the KIP Foundation. KIP stands for Kunstzinnige Interactieve Proeven (Artistic Interactive Experiments). We explore social issues and look for answers by creating human interaction, focusing on the five senses. The different studies conducted by KIP are presented as building blocks, and we would love to keep building together with you!Now you’re probably wondering: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Well, for the KIP Foundation, the answer is very clear.

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In this case, the egg came first, KIP was born from it. Ever since I started STUDIO &lotte, I have been using interaction with audiences and visitors by engaging their senses. I believe that you remember an experience better when your senses are stimulated.In fact, I am always working together with clients, but in 2018 and 2019 I was my own client during Dutch Design Week. There, STUDIO &lotte presented two social issues, inviting people to look at certain aspects of the world around us from a different perspective.

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But the idea of research and exploring social issues actually started much earlier. While completing my Master’s degree in England, I wrote my thesis about food. With Food For A Better Lifestyle, I created a pavilion where people could learn about healthy food and, above all, experience that eating healthily doesn’t have to be difficult. I also conducted academic research into the perception of a ‘healthy’ person. And no, I didn’t know at the time that I had coeliac disease yet ;).

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Establishing a foundation centred around research has been a dream of mine for a very long time. It gives me more time to explore the things I find interesting myself. And what I find interesting are the social issues that we all deal with in our daily lives.

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Now that KIP has been born, I am starting a new research project. This time, it is about a subject that has received increasing attention in recent years: burnout. Being burned out. I wonder: where does it come from? How did the idea arise that being busy is synonymous with being successful? We always want more, faster and better, and it is difficult to determine when being busy becomes too busy. But why is taking time to rest so difficult?

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In our society, it has become normal to always be switched on. This is partly due to the enormous rise of social media. When you are always switched on, there is very little time for a moment of quiet reflection. However, there is another side to this story. You often see that after experiencing burnout, people start to appreciate their lives in a completely different way and, in a sense, become grateful for having had to slow down for a while. It enables them to make clearer choices about what is important to them. But how does that happen? And what other positive things can come from experiencing burnout?

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I hope to answer all these questions. My goal is to learn from this research into burnout and perhaps transform those insights into something that can help us draw new strength from the experience. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Would you share them with me by replying to this email? I’m looking forward to this new process that I will be exploring with the KIP Foundation.

 

Lotte de Jong