Hi folks!
Let's start with a new partnership!
Jenya Stashkov, your Special Correspondent and Independent Curator.
Jenya has just arrived in London, he will collaborate with us by presenting some of his articles on Art. Art that produces, studies and encounters on his English journey.
We warmly welcome him and after reading his first post, comment, like and share.
Let the invisible anthropomorphic bird give you inspiration.
5 practical exercises to activate the imagination
Hi, Jenya Stashkov is here. I am an artist, performer, playwright, and imagination activation coach based in London. My practice is to help people activate the internal resources of their imagination. Every person in the world (without exception!) is an endless vessel of energy, knowledge, images, and inspiration. Sometimes we feel that we are devastated, that we have no ideas, and that we are just marking time. This is absolutely normal! Different periods happen in our lives. But perhaps at this moment, we should use the hidden resources of our imagination. Imagination is not necessarily something to be used in art; our whole lives should be saturated with imagination. Activated imagination means there are more possible solutions to a problem than we think. Activated imagination tells us that any problem can be solved by an infinite number of solutions. I bring to your attention 5 exercises that are based on different levels of sources of imagination.
Exercise 1. The level of inner physicality
Imagine that your body is an aquarium. Please answer a few questions:
1. What liquid is poured into this aquarium?
2. Who are the inhabitants of this aquarium? Describe them. How many are there?
3. What does this aquarium smell like?
4. What will this aquarium turn into in a week?
5. What did this aquarium whisper when it saw something gigantic and turquoise?
Exercise 2. Tactile Level
Touch any part of your body to a random object near you. Concentrate on that touch. Please do the following with this tactile sensation:
1. Imagine that this tactile sensation makes sounds. Make these sounds very loud. What are those sounds?
2. Remember your favourite color. Imagine that your favourite animals came to the sounds from the previous point of the exercise. The colour of these animals is your favourite color, as you remembered.
3. Imagine that these animals are vibrating. Describe this vibration. What is this vibration? High or low? Weak or strong?
4. Taste this vibration. What is this taste? What does this taste like? French fries, pickled cucumber, jelly?
5. Imagine that this taste is a person. Come up with a non-existent name for this person. For example, Haburdezey III—why not?
Exercise 3. The level of space above the head
Concentrate on the space above your head. Let's change it together with the help of inner concentration!
1. What colour is it (the space above your head)? Let's make this colour lighter.
2. What size is it? Let's increase this by 10,000 times.
3. Is there a lot of air? Let's pump a lot of air in there!
4. Does anyone unpleasant live there? Turn that unpleasant person into someone adorable... um... James McAvoy?
5. Your space above your head is grateful to you. It has drawn a picture for you. Describe what is depicted in this picture.
Exercise 4. Inventions of Creatures level.
Let's invent your own creature! Let's say it will be your totem. Please follow the instructions.
1. Come up with any number from 0 to 100. The resulting number is the number of limbs on your own creature.
2. Imagine your favourite mythical creature. What part of this mythical creature's body (the cyclops eye, basilisk tail, elf ears, and so on) do you like the most? Add this body part to the body of your own creature.
3. Some very beautiful plants grow out of the body of your own creature. What kind of plant is this?
4. The name of your own creature contains the first letter of the name of your favourite drink and your favourite interjection. Make a name out of it!
5. Your own creature rules the whole planet. Describe this planet. What's the climate like there? What is the price of gas on this planet?
Exercise 5. The level of a strange fairy tale
There are two characters. The first character is the embodiment of the most pleasant memory of your childhood. The second character is the embodiment of the most tasteless dish that you have tasted in your life. Come up with a fairy tale by answering the following questions:
1. Where do the first and second characters go?
2. What did the first character turn into?
3. What fell from the sky?
4. What came out of the ground?
5. How many birds flew by?
6. Why did everyone hide?
7. What happens to these clouds?
8. What has the second character turned into?
9. Where has everything gone?
10. Why did they start all over again?
11. What's the point?
12. Who is the final boss?
13. What time is it now?
14. Is it magic or science?
15. What will happen in twenty years?
I hope you had fun! These strange exercises blow up the brain a bit, but activate different zones of imagination. You can invent similar exercises yourself and create whole and unique worlds! Please concentrate on your feelings; evoke synaesthetic sensations in yourself, and imagination will never leave you!
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Be creative!
