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Karolinska Institutet does research projects

By on December 15, 2017

Karolinska Institutet makes research projects about the theater as a contributing factor to social sustainability development.

To find out if a performing arts activity can be considered as promoting health and contributing to social sustainability, Karolinska Institutet initiates a collaboration with Dramaten where cardiac activity will be measured on actors and audiences in some of the spring’s performances of Jan Waldekranz’s newly written piece De andra.

De andra are a newly written play by Jan Waldekranz, premiere January 24, 2018.
The play depicts exclusion, issues of trust and compassion – factors that are important for the development of social sustainability in society. In the roles we see Jan Waldekranz and Electra Hallman.

In collaboration with Karolinska Institutet and the Center for Social Sustainability (CSS), Dramaten will participate in a research project where effects of and on the audience will be evaluated. The question the project arises is whether and in which case one can regard performing arts activities as health promotion and as a contributing factor to social sustainability.

Initiatives to the collaboration are Eva Eriksson, Future Analyst and CEO, EQ Accelerator:
– For several years I worked with sustainable urban development where social sustainability was the most difficult to concretize. In this way, the Karolinska Institute, together with Dramaten, can contribute to a greater understanding of a global and complex social issue.

By measuring heart activity, feelings of flow and pro-social attitudes in connection with the play De andra we will be able to know more about theater can affect both
the actors and the audience’s sense of flow, pro-social attitudes and the will to do good. Measurements will be made during some of the performances of the actors and voluntarily and randomly selected people in the audience. Information on the date of measurements will be communicated to the public in advance.

– The theater can play a greater role in society than it has today. Therefore, cooperation with Karolinska Institut feels extra exciting, says Jan Waldekranz.

– It is an important knowledge if we can see performing arts as part of the development of a socially sustainable society. The play The others will also inspire conversation, says medicine doctor Eva Bojner Horwitz, cultural health researcher and responsible for the project.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet involved in the project are Töres Theorell, Walter Osika, Fredrik Ullén, Laszlo Harmat and Eva Bojner Horwitz.

Helena Olofsson, Culture & Music | Stockholm
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