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Beauty Project Discover your life
3500
Over participants gave their views about beauty Conducted in
Over 500 music pieces that represent personal interpretations of beauty
3 countries (and four regions)
14 posters per country that show how the inhabitants deal with beauty
600
Over images that depict personal interpretations of beauty
Over 40 questions about personal beauty experiences
The Beauty Project: an overview
This brochure presents you the most important charactreristics of an amazing international applied art project: the Beauty Project. It will give you a better insight in why the project was founded, what it offers and how the project is organised. This brochure contains information about these topics: • The 'why': discover your life • The 'what': questions about beauty • The 'how': countrywise surveys • Output: a serie of multimedia books • Book feature 1: fascinating data on beauty • Book feature 2: text based online illustrations • Book feature 3: online images of beauty • Book feature 4: online sounds of beauty
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If you have comments about this questionnaire or the subject of the project in general, please feel free to include them.
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The 'why': discover your life Â
Beauty is about what touches us. Our attitudes to it show our differences. It is precisely this diversity that is central to this project. From trains to trees and from birth to death: everything has its own beauty, it appears, according to "us". By contemplating what beauty means to us we discover what really matters in our lives. In the Beauty Project this journey of discovery is guided by an online questionnaire, consisting of 35 questions. A majority of the people who took part in the Beauty Project stated spontaneously that answering the questions was an enriching experience and they were grateful that they had taken part. Trying to find out what meaning we personally give to the word 'beauty' is like opening a door that gives access to what we hold dearest in our lives. The Beauty Project aims to support this journey.
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“Beauty is the battlefield where God and Satan contend with each other for the heart of man.� Fyodor Dostoyevsksi
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The 'what': questions about beauty
The online questionnaire that lies at the core of the Beauty Project contains questions like: •
What is the most beautiful thing you have ever experienced in your life?
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To what extent do you believe you influence the degree of beauty in your life?
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Does beauty lead to happiness?
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How much beauty is lacking in your life?
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Was there more beauty (in 'the world') in the past than today, or is the world actually becoming more beautiful?
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Is beauty dangerous?
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Are there major differences between what men and women find beautiful?
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Could paying more attention to beauty contribute something to the world?
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The 'how': countrywise surveys Â
The Beauty Project centers around an online survey that so far has been conducted in three countries: United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands. In each country a representative sample of the population is invited by email to take part in the project. In the United Kingdom sub samples were used to draw conclusion about four different regions: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since the start in 2010 over 3500 inhabitants of these countries participated. They answered a set of over 35 personal questions that focus on their experiences and opinions about the wonderful but often also somewhat complicated phenomenon 'beauty'. The questionnaire consists of open en closed questions, but also invites the participants to contribute in a non-verbal way: they can add to their answers images or music pieces that to them are typical examples of beauty. This way a database is build that contains four data modalities: 1. percentages, 2. texts, 3. images and 4. sound.
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Output: a series of multimedia books
The Beauty Project has resulted in a series of multimedia books that give an impression of the way beauty is experienced in each of the different countries and regions where the project so far has been conducted. The books are illustrated with images based on the qualitative data and contain the results of the specific regions and countries. Each book is connected to an additional online layer of information that provides detailed insight into the qualitative outcomes. So far the folllowing books have been completed:
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Seeking beauty | United Kingdom Seeking beauty | Scotland Seeking beauty | Wales Seeking beauty | Northern Ireland Seeking beauty | Ireland Op zoek naar schoonheid | Nederland
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This is how 258 Welsh in 2012 were thinking about the beauty in their lives: [p.17: Which two of the following forms of beauty comes closest to what you regard as the most important in your life? (1st choice) person-partner (e.g. someone with a good character): 32% / personpartner (e.g. a 'handsome' partner): 15% / mementos-memories (e.g. photos): 13% / nature: 11% / a religion (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, other): 7% / travel: 3% / house (e.g. beautiful things in [p.27: Is beauty dangerous? your home): 3% / knowledge (such as studying or books): 3% / beautiful clothes: 2% / mechanical always, or almost always: 2% / statue, things (e.g. car): 2% / food or luxury foods: 2% / music: 1% / silence: 1% / symbols (e.g. small sometimes: 56% / 0%never, almost precious stones or amulet): 0% / art: 0% / jewellery: 0% / sports: / other,or namely: 7%] (2nd choice) mementos / memories (e.g. photos): never: 15% / nature: / knowledge (such[p.29: as studying or 21%, 13% don't know: 20%] books): 9% / person-partner (e.g. someone with a goodother character): 8% / house (e.g. beautiful things Are people sometimes in your home): 6% / person-partner (e.g. a 'handsome' partner) 6% / travel: 6% / music: 5% / sports: surprised by 2% what you find most Islam, 4% / mechanical things (e.g. car): 3% / silence: 3% / jewellery: / a religion (Christianity, Buddhism, other): 1% / beautiful clothes: 1% / art: 1% / food orno, luxury foods: 1% / symbols (e.g. small beautiful? (almost) never: 31% statue, precious stones or amulet): 1% / other,/ namely: 5%] [p.27: Is61% beauty dangerous? always, yes, sometimes: / yes, often: or almost always: 2% / sometimes: 56% / never, or almost never: 21%, don't know: 20%] [p.29: Are [p.29: Did it ever happen other people sometimes surprised by what6%] you find most beautiful? no, (almost) never: 31% / yes, sometimes: 61% / yes, often: 6%] [p.29: Did it ever happen that people gotor insecure that people got insecure even or even were frightened by what you find most beautiful? no, (almost) never: / yes, sometimes: were frightened by 74% what you 24% / yes, often: 1%] [p.31: Are you sometimes surprised by what other people find really most68% beautiful? (almost) beautiful? no, (almost) never: 21% / yes, find sometimes: / yes, often:no, 10%] [p.31: Do you never: 74% / yes, sometimes: 24% sometimes get insecure or even frightened by what other people find most beautiful? no, (almost) never: 64% / yes, sometimes: 30% / yes, often:often: 4%] [p.41: there major differences / yes, 1%]Are [p.31: Do you between what men and women find beautiful? yes: 72% / no: 27%] [p.41 Does the concept of sometimes beauty apply more to men or to women? men: 5% / women:get 61% insecure / both, to the or sameeven extent: 34%] frightened by thing whatorother [p.47: Which statement applies best to the most beautiful event people in your life? is something I already own - I've already experienced / is beautiful? something I dono, not (almost) yet own - have not find 58% most yet experienced: 17% / is something I will probably never own or experience: 9% / is something you never: 64% / yes, sometimes: 30% / 16% / cannot own or experience: 14%] [p.47: Which is the more beautiful? something new: something already used: 27% / don’t know: 56%] [p.49: Was there more beauty (in 'the world') in the past than today, or is ‘the world’ actually becoming more beautiful? used to be more, now less: 49% / no difference, equal: 33% / more now than in the past: 17%] [p.49: What generally happens over time with a beautiful experience? becomes less beautiful: 15% / stays as beautiful as it was: 58% / becomes more beautiful: 26%] [p.51: What generally happens over time with a beautiful object you own? becomes less beautiful: 15% / stays as beautiful as it was: 68% / becomes more beautiful: 16%] [p.51: What generally happens over time with a beautiful person? becomes less beautiful: 15% / stays as beautiful as it was: 56% / becomes more beautiful: 28%] [p.57: If you own something beautiful, or when you are near to something beautiful, how do you feel? calm: 25% / sad: 2% / happy: 65% / glad: 14% / expectant: 3% / greedy: 1% / worried: 1% / euphoric: 8% / excited: 16% / complete-acceptance: 24% / other, namely: 3%] [p.57: Does beauty lead to happiness? yes: 10% / sometimes: 61% / no: 15% / don’t know: 13%] [p.59: How much beauty is lacking in your life? none, I have a very beautiful life: 34% / some, my life could use some extra beauty: 51% / a lot, I really miss beauty in my life: 14%] [p.59: To what extent do you believe you influence the degree of beauty in your life? a lot: 26% / to some extent: 53% / little, or not at all: 21%] [p.65 What for you is the most beautiful? a thing, an object: 5% / a person: Page example fromWhich the book 'Seekingterms beauty in Wales'. 59% / an experience: 36%] [p.65: of the following do you| most associate with beauty? excitement: 22% / silence-quietness: 27% / cannot make a choice - both: 49%] [p.74: Could paying more attention to beauty contribute something to the world?? yes: 61% / no: 38%]
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Book feature 1: fascinating data on beauty Each book in the serie 'Seeking beauty' contains a true tressure of information about how beauty is experienced and perceived. This gives a special look at the countries and regions where the Beauty Project has been conducted. All results of the surveys are incuded in the Appendix of the books. This way they do not disturb the reflective process of the readers that is needed to find their own answers to the questions.
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Page example from the book 'Op zoek naar schoonheid | in Nederland'. Try out: scan a QR-code, open a PDF document and access the complete responses on the questions: " What is the most beautiful thing you experienced last year?" 12
Book feature 2: text based online illustrations Particpants in the project answered a large number of questions about their experiences and opinions on beauty. Among them were also numerous open questions where they could write down their personal reactions. The results of six of these open questions are converted into data visuals. For each country or region seven wordclouds are created and six symbols composed of the personal, enedearing, humerous or also sometimes tragic answers. In total 14 data visuals are depicted in the book. They can be opened and enlarged by scanning a QR-code with a smart phone (in the printed edition of the books) or by clicking or tapping these links (in the ebook versions).
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Page example from the book 'Seeking Beauty | in Scotland'. Try out: scan the QR-code and access the images that for the Scottish participant in the project were examples of beauty. 14
Book feature 3 : online images of beauty Particpants in the project are invited to express their connection with beauty by uploading an image. We now have a database with over 600 images per region the images are collected and used to create one special illustration: the Beauty Tree. It consists of all the images respondents allowed us to publish and the specific explanations they added as to why a picture to them examplified beauty. The link can be opened by scanning a QR-code with a smart phone (in the printed edition of the books) or by clicking or tapping these links (in the ebook versions). By accessing this online illustrations the books give an impression of what images touches a country most.
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Page example from the book 'Seeking Beauty | in Ireland'. Try out: scan a QR-code and access the music that for an Irish participant in the project was an exceptional example of beauty. 16
Book feature 4. : online sounds of beauty Particpants in the project were also invited to express their connection with beauty by uploading a piece of music. All books contain a random selection of these musical beauty impressions by way of a large number of links to YouTube videos of artists, compositions and songs. The links can be opened by scanning a QR-code with a smart phone (in the printed edition of the books) or by clicking or tapping these links (in the ebook versions). Depending on the national or regional version of the book they have at least 33 or maximum 55 links to these YouTube clips. By accessing this musical online layer the books give an impression of what music touches a country most.
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Click to read demo book
Contact: The Beauty Project, P.O. Box 10 013, NL-3505 AA Utrecht, Netherlands t: +31-(0)30-707 0001 / e: info@b-u-t.org / i: www.b-u-t.org
This project was made possible by the generous support of NETQ Netherlands and SSI Benelux.