Art action for a cultural change from PLEASE to THANKS
From all corners the world is asking us to show a new consciousness. Of course, I too have been thinking about this for a long time and wondering what I can contribute as an artist.
At the very bottom of my perception I believe that we have a pre-conscious attitude towards the world, both individually and collectively: I see that we look more at what we don't have. With 7 billion people, this inevitably leads to an exploitation of the earth's resources.
How can you change your habitus and look at what you have? Air to breathe, enough and good to eat, a flexible body, a warm house, friends, neighbors, peace ... The list could go on ad infinitum. Maybe the time has come to say thank you. Daily, always: it is anything but self-evident.
On this basis I am developing the project "THANK YOU - Art Action for a Cultural Change from PLEASE to THANK YOU", as a way of remembering its immeasurable richness.
"The whole world carries us". We owe our prosperity in large part to the people who work for us under conditions we would not accept ourselves. It is time to say THANK YOU and to feel the interdependence and connection.
Poster campaign in Stuttgart in December 2020 with big thanks to the sponsors
Reactions
J.R., Berlin: I like your thought: we always look at what we are missing, and therefore we take what we can, and in the end the world is robbed.
A.L. Germany:: "Thank you, Mr. Helzle, for your observations and insightful formulation. As experience in addition a picture: When I think of a flower greeting for someone from my rather shady little garden wilderness, I often find myself thinking that there is nothing blooming that I could give away. But when I go looking for something and see what's growing, I always get some nice and tender surprises, which are usually different from what I've seen before and therefore give me special pleasure. The confidence grows for the next time: there is more there than I expect, more can turn out to be quite different from my imagination, my "setting off" is part of it. I am curious about your new project.
A.B. Germany:: "Thank you Wolf, great letter and very good idea to recognize the seemingly so obvious as the precious and special. This is artistic perception work in the best sense. A few days ago a friend called me, a scientist, who wanted to have an edifying Sunday with his wife. So they went to Schw. Hall to the Würth-Museum to look at pictures from the collection. He was shocked. I saw the exhibition too. Actually about 80 % are diagnoses of a sick society, but far too little food and structure for the vibrating soul and the living spirit. So we have quite a task here to bring the proportions back into balance without falling into the trap of knowing better or rejecting others.
M.F.: Germany: "Dear Wolf, quite spontaneously I reply to your art letter and say "Thank you"! You speak from my heart. Yes, let's look at what we have (on all levels) and be grateful for it. And from this "thank you" act, live, be. Thank you!"
M.W., Germany: "In these times of individualization and self-optimization, you only look at yourself and your immediate surroundings. So I have been thinking about doing something for the general public, for the earth for quite some time. For the earth being. In the long run this individualization is quite lonely and gets on my nerves. Thanks is something binding, creates contact, makes friendship. The thanked is seen. Not everything is so obvious. Thanks = appreciation."
C.A. France: "Your new project sounds like a big step, because you appreciate what our world offers in subtle diversity and in a great way. I like the idea very much."
R.S. Germany: "what a nice idea (THANK YOU)! I have the vision of spreading, supported by badges, stickers etc..."
N.Ö., Turkey: "First of all I would like to congratulate you on your new project! I think it is such a good idea and a change of perspective. I think it is a perspective that we really need. We all want, ask, demand, but only few of us express gratitude. Gratitude for everything: gratitude for air to breathe, for food to eat, for a healthy body, for a shelter on our heads, for our friends, neighbours and some of us for peace. In any case, it is a good and necessary change of behaviour and perspective. The question is how? How can we sensitize more people and change their perspective? What are our methods and means?"
M.A., Japan: "Thank you for informing me about this. What exactly are you doing now? ARIGATO is ありがとう in Japanese script."
C.M., Sambia: "Received with gratitude. Let me study the background. How many words how long shud be my statement. It is very possible to have u act in Zambia..l will help u to realise your project where l can"
J.H., Germany: "Dear Wolf, you are asking me a very good and important question, which I think needs a good answer. Because otherwise we will all go down the drain together in the not too distant future! ... ... you often experience this "imperative" request, which I may not like at all. I believe we must meet soon..."
M.R., Finnland: "Interesting… facinating ...yes there is lot of things to thank... So many reasons to be grateful. All things have many sides - at the exreme ends ”black" and ”white". And different shades of the human mind - different shades of the world. The spirit of the time is to be an enlightened complainer and bring up grievances, complaints and … of course I, you, we, they ...find many. Thank you, Wolf, for calling me to think your new developing project ”Thank you - Art Action for a Cultural Change from PLEASE to THANK YOU”. I am curious - sounds very good idea. What practically and personally I’ll commit to do, find, be able to participate are still question marks. Vielen dank ! "
N.K., Afghanistan: " از همه گوشه و کنار دنیا جهان از ما می خواهد که آگاهی جدیدی نشان دهیم. البته من هم مدت هاست که به این موضوع فکر می کنم و نمی دانم چه نقشی می توانم به عنوان یک هنرمند داشته باشم.
در انتهای درک من معتقدم که ما یک نگرش از پیش آگاهانه نسبت به جهان داریم ، بصورت فردی و جمعی: من می بینم که بیشتر به آنچه نداریم نگاه می کنیم. با 7 میلیارد نفر جمعیت ، این به ناچار منجر به سوء استفاده از منابع زمین می شود.
چگونه می توانید عادت خود را تغییر دهید و به آنچه دارید نگاه کنید؟ هوا برای تنفس ، به اندازه کافی و خوب برای غذا خوردن ، بدن انعطاف پذیر ، یک خانه گرم ، دوستان ، همسایگان ، صلح ... این لیست می تواند به صورت بی نهایت تبلیغ شود. شاید زمان آن رسیده است که از شما متشکرم. روزانه ، همیشه: این چیزی است که کاملاً مشهود است.
بر این اساس ، من در حال تهیه پروژه "یك تشكر از شما - اقدام هنری برای تغییر فرهنگی از لطفا به یارانه" ، به عنوان یك راهی برای به یاد آوردن غنای بی حد و حصر
I have translated the whole text and the people from Afghanistan and also from Iran can understand the translation
C.A., France: Translation of Wolf’s statement into French: "Action artistique pour un changement culturel - du contentement au remerciement (de s’il te plaît à merci). De toute part, le monde nous demande de faire preuve d’une nouvelle conscience. Bien sûr, moi aussi j’ai réfléchi à cela depuis longtemps et je me suis demandé comment je pouvais contribuer en tant qu’artiste.
Au fin fond de ma perception, je crois que nous avons une attitude préconsciente envers le monde, aussi bien individuellement que collectivement : je vois que nous regardons plus ce que nous n’avons pas que ce que nous avons. Avec 7 millions d’habitants, cela conduit inévitablement à l’exploitation des ressources de la terre.
Comment pouvez-vous changer vos habitudes et regarder ce que vous avez ? L’air pour respirer, suffisamment et des aliments pour nous nourrir, un corps souple, une maison chaude, des amis, des voisins, la paix… La liste pourrait continuer à l’infini. Peut-être le temps est venu de dire merci. Quotidiennement, toujours : c’est tout mais cela va de soi.
Sur ce principe, je développe le projet “MERCI” – action artistique pour un changement culturel du contentement au merci, de telle façon à se souvenir de cette richesse incommensurable. A suivre.
Maybe, I am able to tell about how we see what we have with anecdotes.
With Waya probably, it was the only time I saw someone being thanksfull for the food given by the earth. Waya lived in a sub-Sahara bambara village near the river Niger. In my late twenties, I lived intermitently in a small flat in Paris and there, where I spent long months during a few years. In that place different ethnies were remaining with their ancestral and animist habits. They were Touaregs, Dogons, Bozos, Bambaras. They didn’t use money. Their values were found in what was surrounding them, in the bush and the desert. One day, Waya’s father brought a hen from the bush. Before preparing it for dinner, Waya sang a kind of lullaby. Doing so, she tapped her hand on the ground around the hen's body. When I asked her what she was doing, she responded she was thanking the earth for giving her a hen. She was five years old. Any kid, even of that age, in the bush were able to prepare a chicken, to cut wood, with an axe, for cooking it, without producing any waste. Her act was perfectly commonplace, according to the expression on her face. I don’t have any religion. Animism is not a religion. It gathers the ways primitive civilisations would define the earth’s connections and live within this. It tells them how they belong to it, how they accept, thank, celebrate and cultivate the world presence. We lost our habit to see what we have, to say thank you because we don’t have anylonger a link with our ground. What I try to find, when I act, is that link. I ni cè is thank you in Bambara."
The whole article by C.A. as PDF
M.H.L, Korea, translated the text in Korean language:
<감사하다는 의식적 문화적 변화를 일으키는 예술 행동.Art action for a cultural change from PLEASE to THANKS>
세계 곳곳에서 새로운 의식을 향유하고 공감하라고 요구하고 있습니다.
물론, 나도 이것에 대해 오랫동안 생각하고 예술가로서 무엇을 할 수 있는지 의문을 가져왔습니다.
저의 인식의 바탕에서 저는 개인적으로나 집단적으로 세상에 대해서 의식적인 태도를 가지고 있다고 믿었습니다.
저는 우리가 갖추지 않은 것을 더 많이 본다는 것을 압니다. 지구의 70 억 명의 사람들이 불가피하게도 무분별하게 활용하고 있는 지구의 자원은 고갈되고 있습니다.
습관을 바꾸고 가지고있는 것을 어떻게 볼 수 있습니까? 숨을 쉴 수있는 공기, 충분하고 좋은 음식, 유연한 몸매, 따뜻한 집, 친구, 이웃, 평화 ... 목록은 무한대로 이어질 수 있습니다.
아마 감사의 말을 할 시간이왔다. 매일, 항상 : 그것은 자명하지 않은 것입니다.
자연의 소중함에 대한 마음 깊이 "감사합니다"으로 태동되는 담론의 문화적 변화를 위한 예술 행동"프로젝트는 측정 할 수 없는 풍요로움의 마음과 자세를 기억하는 방법을 창조하고 있습니다.
<계속됩니다. To be continued.>
W.S., Germany: "Hello Wolf my good ❤️ Exactly this thought went through my mind again and again in the last weeks, when I was on the road in Asia.
What incredible wealth life has in store for us in our everyday lives.
What self-evident things and possibilities, whether education or being able to make our own free decisions, we are allowed to occupy ourselves with ourselves and our lives and through all this prosperity we are allowed to realize ourselves, to find and express ourselves independently and can appear to us in our being. To be able to set out on our way and experience life as something exciting and thrilling, mysterious, philosophical and wonderful, and this only because we were born here. We have the possibility to decide
What not too many people in the world have...
THANK YOU
N.Ö., Turkey: "I am very curious about your new project. I really wonder how people will react and what will be the effects. Good luck!
Here is the Turkish translation of your manuscript. When you share it in social media, I will share too.
LÜTFEN'den TEŞEKKÜR EDERİM'e bir kültürel değişim için sanat eylemi
Dünyanın dört bir yanı bizden yeni bir bilinç kazanmamızı istiyor. Elbette, bir sanatçı olarak ben de uzun zamandır bu konuyu ve nasıl katkıda bulunabileceğimi düşünüyordum.
Hem bireysel hem de kolektif olarak dünyaya karşı bilinç öncesi bir yaklaşımımız olduğuna derinden inanıyorum: Sahip olmadıklarımızı daha çok fark ettiğimizi görüyorum. 7 milyar insanla, bu yaklaşım kaçınılmaz olarak dünyanın kaynaklarının istismar edilmesine yol açıyor.
Tutumunuzu nasıl değiştirebilir ve sahip olduklarınızın farkına nasıl varabilirsiniz? Solumak için havaya, yiyecek yeterli besine, elastik bir vücuda, sıcak bir yuvaya, dostlara, huzura... Bu liste sonsuza kadar uzayıp gidebilir. Belki de teşekkür ederim demenizin zamanı gelmiştir. Her gün, mütemadiyen: Bu apaçık ortada.
Bu düşünceyle, dünyanın sınırsız zenginliklerini hatırlamanın bir yolu olarak "TEŞEKKÜR EDERİM - LÜTFEN'den TEŞEKKÜR EDERİM'e Kültürel Bir Değişim İçin Sanat Eylemi"ni başlatıyorum. Devamı gelecek.
M.A., Japan: "PLEASE(要望)からTHANKS(感謝)への文化的変化のためのアート・アクション
あらゆる局面において、世界は私たちに新たな自覚を示すよう求めています。 もちろん、私もこれについて長い間考えており、アーティストとしてどのような貢献できるのかを考えてきました。
私は根底的な認識として、私たちは個人としても集団としても、世界に対する前意識的な態度を持っていると信じています。 それはすなわち、私たちが持っていないものを、より強く求めるということです。70億人の人々がいるため、これは必然的に地球の資源の搾取につながります。
どうすれば蓄積した慣習を変えて、自分の持っているものを見つめることができるのか？ 呼吸する空気、十分な良い食べ物、柔軟な体、暖かい家、友人、隣人、平和...このリストは無限に続きそうです。 そして、ありがとうと言う時が来ました。 毎日、常に：それは必ずしも自明ではありません。
この原則に基づいて、その計り知れない豊かさに気づく方法として、プロジェクト「THANK YOU - PLEASE(要望)からTHANKS(感謝)への文化的変化のためのアート・アクション」というプロジェクトを開発しています。この項続く。
Thich Nhat Hanh: "Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything. "
K.K., Italy: "Azione artistica per un cambiamento culturale da PER FAVORE a GRAZIE
Da ogni parte, il mondo ci sta chiedendo di mostrare una nuova coscienza. Naturalmente anch'io ci ho pensato a lungo e mi chiedo quale sia il mio contributo come artista.
In fondo alla mia percezione credo che abbiamo un atteggiamento preconscio nei confronti del mondo, sia individualmente che collettivamente: Vedo che guardiamo di più a ciò che non abbiamo. Con 7 miliardi di persone, ciò porta inevitabilmente a uno sfruttamento delle risorse della terra.
Come si può cambiare il proprio habitus e guardare quello che si ha? Aria da respirare, buon cibo sufficiente, un corpo flessibile, una casa calda, amici, vicini, pace ... L’elenco potrebbe essere continuato all'infinito. Forse è giunto il momento di ringraziare. Ogni giorno, sempre: è tutt'altro che scontato.
Su questa base sto sviluppando il progetto "GRAZIE - azioni artistiche per un cambiamento culturale da PER FAVORE a GRAZIE" come un modo per ricordarsi la ricchezza incommensurabile. Da continuare."
K.K., Hungarian: "Művészeti kampány kulturális változásért a KÉREMböl – KÖSZÖNÖKért
A világ minden sarkából kéri, hogy mutassunk új tudatosságot. Természetesen már régóta gondolkodtam rajta, és azon gondolkodtam, mit tehetek művészként.
Véleményem alján azt hiszem, hogy tudatosan viselkedünk a világgal szemben, mind egyénileg, mind együttesen: látom, hogy hajlamosak vagyunk arra nézni, ami nincs. 7 milliárd embernél ez elkerülhetetlenül a föld erőforrásainak kiaknázásához vezet.
Hogyan lehet megváltoztatni szokásunkat, és arra nézni ami van? Levegő lélegezni, elég és jó étel, rugalmas test, meleg ház, barátok, szomszédok, béke ... A listát ad infititum lehet folytatni. Talán eljött az idő, hogy köszönetet mondjunk érte. Naponta, mindig: nem természetes.
Ezen az alapon kidolgozom a "KÖSZÖNÖK - Művészeti kampány kulturális változásért a KÉREMböl – KÖSZÖNÖKért" című projektet, hogy emlékezzünk mérhetetlen gazdagságunkra. Foytatás következik."
Thich Nhat Hanh: "Our body is a masterpiece of the cosmos. Our body carries within it the stars, the moon, the universe, and the presence of all our ancestors. How many millions of years of evolution has it taken to give rise to these wondrous two eyes, legs, feet, and hands? Countless life-forms are supporting our existence in this moment…
When we see clearly that our physical body is a miraculous wonder of life, a gift of the cosmos, it is a flash of insight. Once we have that insight, we must sustain it. If not, restlessness and agitation will take over, and we’ll forget. We’ll no longer cherish the miracle of being alive. So we need to sustain and nurture this insight in every moment. It takes concentration. But it’s not hard to do. While we walk, while we work, while we eat, we bring our awareness to our human body, simply enjoying the feel of our body’s position and movements, and the wonder of being alive."
W.N.H., Germany: "Deep inside of me I have discovered an image: For a new appreciation of our existence and thus a chance of survival as human beings, the human system needs to be turned around a tiny little bit. How can humanity move such a small piece in its attitude? And what can I as an individual artist do about it?
I thought about that for some time and developed this art project. The goal is that as many people on earth as possible get this information.
The project is currently at the stage of distribution and discussion. So, I would like to ask you from the bottom of my heart to tell me what exactly you do not understand and how this can be changed and improved. It should be understood by everyone. At least potentially. Certainly there are cultural differences here as well.
Yshouk Ursula Kirsch, Deutschland: https://youtu.be/-OYzDTdJi1M