The Snowball Effect (LHI-AS-09-EN)

The Snowball Effect

Single work, group work

Paper and a pencil or a pen and a timer. (Colour pencils and/or colour pens can be used too.)

Set a timer for 8 minutes and start

Set a timer for 8 minutes and start

This method can also be used with instruments, just play on a instrument for 8 minutes every day.

The artist has developed this exercise through experience and knowledge from working as an artist: www.bjargey.com.

Through this method/action, these benefits are achieved:

• Understanding that it is possible to use time to create no matter what
• Learning to deal with procrastination and perfectionism
• Learning to brainstorm and continue in an artistic flow
• Learning to create instead of thinking/daydreaming about creating
• Realizing that big things can be achieved in small steps, one step at a time

In this exercise, Bjargey wants to introduce a method that she uses when she's feeling stuck or when she is dealing with procrastination. In this method, individuals  start to create instead of thinking/daydreaming about creating.  It is good to do a bit of brainstorming creative exercises now and then. Think about it as a dancer who stretches. Big things can be achieved in small steps, one step at a time. A good way to fight procrastination: instead of waiting for the right time, the right place. Just do it! Encourage playfulness, it is fine if it is silly, ugly, no one has to see it! (forget about perfection). Get into the habit of creativity a bit here and there. This method can be used with instruments too, just play with an instrument for 8 minutes everyday. 

Time: Use the time you have. Start with 8 minutes. Set an alarm for 8 minutes.

Place: Use the place where you are. If you are in a quiet place then fine. If you are in a café, at a doctors office, etc. it is also fine. The method can be used wherever (this method teaches you to use whatever time and place you have).

Write or draw for 8 minutes or until the alarm stops. It is amazing how much you can write and  draw in such a short time; one can do a lot in just a few minutes!

If you feel stuck then draw inspiration from that fact: If you are writing, write how you are stuck or about whatever you see. Then after a while you will be writing from your unconscious, words will start to flow.  It is a matter of continuing.

Helpers or tricks to encourage creativity: Listening to music can set the mood for writing or drawing.

A wicked way to draw from the unconscious mind is to talk on the telephone and draw at the same time or watch TV with one eye and draw with the other.

For music: Take the instrument and just make sounds for 8 minutes. Approach the instrument as a 3 year old would. Just listen to the sounds you can make and enjoy them. 

Bjargey Ólafsdóttir is open to dialog. Those interested please contact the artist. 

Bjargey Ólafsdóttir

www.bjargey.com

Bjargey Ólafsdóttir lives and works as an interdisciplinary artist in Reykjavík. She is an interdisciplinary artist; she studied photography, painting and mixed media at Iceland Academy of the Arts, Reykjavík and Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki and she studied Screenwriting and Directing in Binger Filmlab, Amsterdam. Her works play with our preconceptions about what we see, about the mediums of film and photography, questioning what is real and what is fiction. Bjargey´s work has been shown internationally in numerous exhibitions and Festivals, like The Reykjavík Art Museum, The Reykjavík Museum of Photography, Kunstverein Munich, KunstWerke Berlin, Galeria Traschi, Santiago Chile, Moderna Museet Stockholm, Sweden, KunstWerke Berlin, Germany, The Moore Space Miami, USA, Manifesta Foundation Amsterdam, Netherlands, E-flux New York, USA, WUK Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria, Tate Modern London, UK, Palm Springs International film festival, USA, Gothenburg Film Festival, Sweden, Aix en Provence international short film festival, France. 

Bjargey Ólafsdóttir is open to dialog. Those interested please contact the artist.  

Photo taken by Laufey Elíasdóttir

Bjargey Ólafsdóttir is open to dialog, please contact the artist.

Fine Arts

English, Icelandic