The art residency

My next volunteer stop was in Asnæs, which is in the north of Zealand (Denmark). It is a Learning Community and Education Centre. They host youth exchanges and retreats, so I thought it would be a nice opportunity to meet a bunch of new people from different countries. Ingerlil, the host, wrote to me that they were currently not working on the usual projects around the house (like building a cabin with a professional carpenter, maintenance, landscaping). Instead, they were running an art residency project that had been ongoing for a couple of weeks. I hesitated for a quick second because I don’t have a strong interest in art, but on the other hand, I asked myself, “Why not?” There is always something new to learn. So, I joined the project after my visit to the Mols Bjerge National Park.

I arrived on a sunny afternoon in Asnæs and was quickly welcomed by many people staying at Mill Camp (that’s the name of the place). There were over 20 people participating in the art residency project from all over the world. Most of them were there just for the project, but there were also a lot of volunteers like me. On the first day, we all went to the beach, and I got to know most of the people there. We enjoyed the sun, the smooth breeze of the Danish wind, and spent the afternoon playing frisbee. It was a good start to the first day, and I was excited about the days to come.

A typical day started with a check-in circle in the auditorium. Everyone could share how they were doing, and the others listened without judging or commenting. It reminded me of the circles in Portugal. It really helps to relieve your thoughts, understand others and yourself better, and you connect with people on a deeper level. It’s a great exercise to focus on awareness and strengthens your mental health.

After our check-in circle, we discussed the upcoming tasks/projects for the week. The overall goal was to create a little festival where people could come and learn about different types of art and connect with Mill Camp. The volunteers were divided into groups, each focusing on an art project they thought would be nice to share and show visitors. I was in charge of a round table where people could discuss various life and global topics they wanted to share or talk about with others—like a TEDx talk, but with more involvement from the audience. Other groups prepared a DIY art station, an art gallery, a Mill Camp video, a music AI workshop, an art performance, as well as BBQ, and cupcakes/pancakes. Everyone had something to do.

Besides our preparation, we had different workshops in the morning. For example, there was a body/music movement session, a presentation about sounds, some fun games, and a workshop on video animation (Ingerlil’s son is one of the founders of Subway Surfers). All these topics were really interesting, and I learned more about art in general. It definitely fueled my interest in art.

We spent a few days preparing and attending workshops for the festival, hoping that some visitors would come. To spread the word to locals and interested people, we designed flyers and distributed them to supermarkets, bars, museums, and art exhibitions in the nearby area. We connected with a lot of people, and many were interested in the Mill Camp festival.

The days went by, and finally, it was the day of the Mill Camp festival. Everyone was prepared, and we were looking forward to welcoming people. Around 20 people joined us for the day—not as many as we had hoped, but we made the best of it. Everyone had fun, and we enjoyed each other’s company while spending a sunny day at Mill Camp. With cupcakes and pancakes, the day couldn’t have been better. In the evening, we were invited by local bar owners to join them for a karaoke session and were treated to free drinks. The day turned out great.

After the Mill Camp festival, most of the volunteers left, but I decided to stay another week to get some hands-on experience working alongside a professional carpenter, building a cabin. Now I know a little bit more about how to build my own cabin one day.

As always, it was a wonderful experience in Denmark. I met so many great people. Thanks for the lovely memories, and especially thanks to Ingerlil for inviting me.

See you.