Name: Testing Ground : Sidsel Nelund : Fear in the Creative Process – Who is Afraid of Fear? (Part 2)
Start: 2025-11-10T10:00:00+01:00
End: 2025-11-10T20:00:00+01:00
Location: Thoravej 29, 2400 Copenhagen, Denmark

$Testing Ground : Sidsel Nelund : Fear in the Creative Process \u2013 Who is Afraid of Fear? (Part 2)$

Join us for a workshop with art researcher, non-fiction writer, and cyclical agent Sidsel Nelund, who will bring together art professionals to explore the subject of fear. This session is the second of three in the open research investigation 'Who’s Afraid of Fear?'
In a critical era of polycrisis, fear is both a physical and mental force that transforms the art profession. Throughout the fall, we will approach fear from different perspectives and in multiple ways.
This session will take the form of a one-day workshop for 8–12 artists and creative producers. Participants will be invited to dive into fear as part of the creative process. Guided by cyclical principles, Nelund will lead the group through five phases, exploring questions such as: Where does fear arise in the creative process? Who and what are we afraid of? What is ours to face—or not? Together, we will work to transform the isolating forces of unspoken fear to bring artistic and creative practice center stage.
PROGRAM
10:00–11:00: Arrival and introductions
11:00–12:00: Phase One
12:00–13:00: Lunch
13:00–14:00: Phase Two
14:00–15:00: Phase Three
15:00–16:00: Break
16:00–17:00: Phase Four
17:00–18:00: Phase Five
18:00–20:00: Dinner
Coffee, lunch, dinner, and beverages will be provided as part of the program.
OUTPUT
As part of the session, we have invited artist and clairvoyant Any Ramdas and artist and writer Sidsel Ana Gajardo to respond with visual and written notes, which serve as documentation of the open research and its findings. All statements are anonymized and documents are made available to be shared among participants.
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INFO
Testing Ground : Sidsel Nelund : Fear in the Creative Process – Who's Afraid of Fear? (Part 2)
10 November 2025, 10.00AM-6:00PM + dinner 6:00-8:00PM.
Art Hub Copenhagen
Thoravej 29
2400 Copenhagen NV
Read about how to participate below.
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WHO CAN JOIN?
Professional artists, curators, and educators at any career stage, working in all media: drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, fiber arts, photography, film, video, new media, fiction and non-fiction writing, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, performance, dance, choreography, music, interdisciplinary social practice, arts administration, environmental art, tech art/gaming art, and architecture.
HOW TO JOIN?
Sidsel Nelund will curate a group of 8–12 artists to ensure complementary approaches to the subject matter. If you would like to join, please send an email to Tina Ryoon at AHC: [email protected] with the subject line: Who's Afraid of Fear Workshop. Include a short motivation (max. 400 characters) on why you would like to participate.
Deadline to apply: 29 October
Notification of participation: by 3 November
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ABOUT WHO'S AFRAID OF FEAR?
Who's Afraid of Fear? growsfrom observing fear as a major obstacle in the artistic professions – and often in unspoken ways. This underlying fear drive hinders art production and Who's Afraid of Fear? sets outto find ways to localize and transform this fear and release what fear holds back. Taking inspiration from Black African American embodiment traditions and South American hospicing modernity practices, Sidsel Nelund will, over a series of sharing sessions, weave together a hybrid method that is at once theoretical, communal, and emotional. Rooted in the cyclical creativity approach she has developed over the past decade, these sessions will explore fear with curiosity and connection.
Nelund hopes to inspire a practice of courageous togetherness. Since fear both binds people and disperses them, what might happen if we gather to normalize fear and find ways to move beyond it?
The investigation is conducted as part of a book project that Sidsel Nelund explores through the Testing Ground residency, an AHC public programme aimed at providing artistic researchers with the opportunity to test ideas and methods in practice.