The research question. The core of my MA at Central Saint Martin in Applied Imagination for the Creative Industries. A question that didn't come to my mind easily and that took me to unprecedented paths.
I must admit, my last tutorial with Paul was very helpful. I do tend, being a solo freelancer, a solopreneur, and solitary human, to isolate myself with my thoughts, projects, and desires and I keep them secret, tight in my mind as well as in my imagination and I do not like to share. A bit like a kid, when he finds some precious treasures that in the eyes of adults has no meaning whatsoever. From time to time, sharing ideas, thoughts and brainstorming are extremely helpful. It makes see things at different angles, discovering things you were not able to before. It makes you analyze deeper and reflect in a much more objective way.
One of the key moments of my last tutorial occurs when Paul made me reflect on my grudge against people who convinced e when I was little that Art and Fitness are unmatchable fields.
And all of the sudden, after a week of reflecting on that, inducing myself in self-hypnosis and sleeping meditation, I realized that one (of the many) episodes that truly affected my childhood by my mother - and her dictatorial and patronizing way of telling me what to do and what don't during my early education, terribly affected my entire education and working path for over two decades.
The society where I grew up did the rest. In Italy, an extremely close-minded country due to all the conservative streams deeply rooted in millennia of religious and political dictatorial regimes, children normally grow up with a very traditional education. There are normally three main courses of studies that you can choose from when you start high school: Classical Studies - where students focus on Italian, Philosophy, Latin, and Greek subjects;
Scientific Studies - where students focus on Math, Physics, Biology and Chemistry subjects;
Art/Professional Studies - where students focus on 'manual arts' like painting, sculptures, design subjects.
It's common in Italian culture that the students who choose either Classical or Scientific Studies to get offered a higher level of respect and consideration as the studies he/she will take further involve logic, cognitive skills, while the latter - the Art field, involves purely a manual ability. In other words, if you are not clever enough, you should enter a career in the manual field, where Fine arts are considered a very low-class educational level.
And for this reason, I always pursue an educational path where society could see me as a clever student, and I'd have brought home honor and respect in the eyes of Italian society.
But after a decade spent in London, one of the most open-minded, fast forward-thinking Capitals of the world, I learned to forget about the orthodox way of thinking of Italian society, as well as of my family.
I do love fitness, I do love the arts, and that's why I do have to choose my research question so wisely, so happily, and passionately. Admittedly, possible to prove others wrong (and myself right) but most importantly is because I do believe in it.
I want to create a tool that will bring Art, Fitness together to improve people's lives while being sustainable to my planet.
One of the many examples that Paul brought to my attention about the beautiful intertwining of Art and Fitness could be found in Ballet. Let's for a moment think about the fluidity of movements of human bodies combined with a beautiful choreography designed by a dance choreographer: isn't that one of the maximum expressions of a beautiful, intangible yet powerful combination of a form of art mixed with a form of fitness?
Another example he mentioned was the Art movement of the beginning of the last Century - the Bauhaus, as a perfect combination of coexistence form of art and movement.
And then a bit of research started...