Wish Tree The first student to take the stage at the seminar was Ione Feys, who shared the story behind the creation of the Van Gogh diary. Ione began by narrating how the idea for the diary came about during the dream stage. As she and her teammates discovered their shared passion for nature and especially flowers, they envisioned a garden where people could escape reality and connect with nature. As the team progressed to the design phase, they found inspiration in the Borinage, the region where Van Gogh lived for a while at a time when the coal mines were still being exploited. The harsh working conditions and low wages of the miners motivated the team to create a garden that would add value to the community. The garden includes a vegetable garden and offers various activities, such as cooking workshops and a wish tree inspired by the letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo. Ione further developed the concept of the wish tree in the form of a diary that focuses on different locations and their nature. Besides the specific focus on Van Gogh, the diary also contains various elements that allow the diary writers to create their own personal story, like mood trackers in the shape of flowers. The diary holder assigns a specific color to each flower based on the mood of the day, inspired by Russell's Circumplex model (1980). The diary also features pages made of growing paper (paper with seeds in it to grow your own flowers) and a drawing template, based on a project by her colleague Amelie.

Workshops for well-being Amelie Ruts and her team dreamt about a project that would bring people together, particularly those who struggle to connect with others. To realize this dream, they developed a series of workshops led by art therapists, with an emphasis on themes such as inclusiveness and mental well-being. These workshops enable participants to embark on a creative journey and subsequently engage in self-reflection on their artistic creations. What sets these workshops apart is their adaptability, as they can be tailored to the needs of each Van Gogh location, group size and age range. The team piloted at the KU Leuven campus in Brussels and the ISC campus in Paris on Mental Health and Well-being Day. Using DALL-E's 2022 AI extender technology idea as a basis, the group will collectively extend a painting. The painting in the center will be a work by Vincent van Gogh, reflecting the location where the workshop will be held. Instead of relying on AI, participants will work together using their own hands, promoting inclusiveness and teamwork. The workshop underscores mental health prevention, as students were initially reluctant to participate, but gradually became more comfortable as the workshop progressed. Afterwards, they reported feeling more relaxed and at ease than before the workshop, highlighting the positive impact of the workshop on their overall well-being.

Walking barefoot in the forest Mara Temmerman and her team are also committed to the prevention of mental health issues. They dreamt about a retreat that would provide a complete sensory experience of the five senses - hearing, feeling, seeing, smelling, and tasting. For this project, they found a match with the heritage location of The Van Gogh Tree Roots which is famous for the painting that Van Gogh made in Auvers-sur-Oise. The team designed a weeklong retreat filled with local activities where participants come to unwind and reflect. Their project also included elements of sustainable tourism. The retreat offers a contrasting experience to fast travel as participants are encouraged to take time to explore the area and maintain lasting relationships with local businesses. Setting up the whole retreat would be a bit much for the internship period, so Mara focused on one of the activities: forest bathing, a Japanese relaxation process that involves immersing yourself in nature to find silence among the trees and observe the environment while breathing deeply. During the activity, the participants focus on the five senses as they follow the route through the forest. The first focus sense is hearing, where participants perceive the sounds of the forest. Followed by the sense of touch that is awakened by walking barefoot over the roots, leaves and mud of the forest. After the walk, the participants gather in a circle to taste the local specialities, such as acacia honey from the bees in the surrounding fields. Addressing the knowledge gap

The students wrapped up their presentation with the conclusion that the internship had been a valuable learning period. Roel Van Lerberghe, a KU Leuven alumnus who participated in the art project a year earlier, confirmed this. As a sustainability advisor at SUSTINERA, Roel guides organizations in implementing more sustainable policies through analysis, advice, reporting and communication with stakeholders. His role is to listen to the needs of the client and to identify the links with sustainability in order to do (even) better in the future. Roel illustrated how the skills he acquired during the internship can be applied in his professional life.

Through his involvement in an art project, he gained valuable experience in dealing with people of diverse backgrounds and personalities. This experience shed light on the importance of active listening and at the same time showed the prevalent lack of knowledge about sustainability among people.

Thanks to his internship experience, Roel learned to effectively address this knowledge gap by presenting sustainability concepts in an accessible way. Roel believes that people's decisions are not always driven by rationality, but rather influenced by emotions. During the project he learned to understand the importance of both the content and the communication of a message, emphasizing that how something is conveyed is just as important as the content.

Roel Van Lerberge: “Art has the power to make people feel things. It can make abstract concepts perceptible. Sustainability is about invisible things such as greenhouse gases and pollutants, but also about the well-being of people on the other side of the world that we don’t know. Moreover, it is not only about now, but also about generations after us. All this is hard to grasp and I think art can play an important role in making people feel and realize the importance of these issues.”

The different parties involved in this art project acknowledge the benefits it brings to both themselves and the wider community, exemplifying the creation of value. The project proves that a fresh approach can lead to remarkable achievements, particularly when collaborating with open-minded individuals. By working together with people who want to break through conventional thinking, we can make the transition from a depleting system to a sustainable system that truly works.

Pascale Maas (KU Leuven)