The lowlands were also a big hit for Utrecht University research; more than a thousand visitors for Color Cross

After two years without Lowlands, the University of Utrecht was also able to do a lot of research on the festival site last weekend. Because it’s not just about performance and dance, science plays an important role at the festival. For example, over a thousand people visited the Cross of Colors and started a conversation about psychological fragility.

“An intense experience” is what many visitors say when they squirm out of the Color Cross. But other visitors come to relax in the colorful setting. The work by Florentijn Hofman is part of the #kletsbaar project, which studies how people talk and think about psychological vulnerability.

Dienke Bos is involved in the project as a researcher at Utrecht University (UU) and is recovering from three days in the Lowlands. “It was fantastic. Whereas as a researcher it normally takes years to find a thousand participants, at Lowlands we did it in two days.

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Various research institutes are gathered at the LL Science site at the festival site, where visitors can contribute to scientific research. The #kletsbaar project by UU, UMC Utrecht and Dynamics of Youth investigates how people think and react to meeting someone whether they know or don’t know that person has certain labels such as depression or autism.

During the research, which is accompanied by a video in which someone introduces himself and then several questions, we note the reaction of people. Because suppose you meet a new colleague or fellow student. Does it matter if you know she has ADHD? Or that he had several depressions? And what is really normal and what is abnormal? After the research, young people, some of whom are experience experts, from MIND Young Studio spoke to the participants.

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The Color Cross artwork was intended to make it clear that many people experience an environment differently. Due to the alienating environment, your sensory experience is altered. It was clear, also in Lowlands, that everyone had a different experience. Where some could even get a little nauseous, others got very calm. The different colors of the Color Cross also had different effects on people. The artwork was mainly the reason to talk about the fact that everyone experiences the same world differently. “It’s good to be aware of that,” says Bos. “That way we were able to really give visitors something in the conversations.”

Bos noticed that there was a lot of open discussion: “We also notice that, especially among the Lowlands public, it is increasingly easy to talk about psychological fragility. But we also know that there are still prejudices and sometimes even taboos on the subject. In any case, the Lowlands project helps to open up the subject to discussion, and it is also a great way to involve people in scientific research.

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Minister for Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, was also attracted to the project and traveled to the Lowlands to visit the Color Cross. Overall, a lot of data has now been collected as part of the project. Bos explains: “In the near future, Myrte van Langen will collect all the data and share what we have learned.