100 Years of Fallowing

New metaphors for new futures: from recharging as machines to fallowing like crops.

Rest is the concept at the heart of “Scenes 02: After 100 Years of Fallowing.”

Rest is an invariable human physiological need. However, the manner in which we meet this need may change. It changes with our behaviour if we start taking CBD or melatonin to rest, limit the number of hours we work or find a new whale sounds playlist. Rest also changes culturally, depending on the concept of intimacy, effort and self-fulfilment.

We have concocted a series of ideas about a restful life, replete with spas, camomile tea and a sense of weightlessness. These notions have created a yardstick by which to determine whether our rest is normal, ideal or pathological. In other words, the idea of getting a good night’s rest may end up robbing us of our sleep.

Speaking about how tired we are is difficult, which is why we usually resort to metaphors. In our research on tiredness, we discovered that the machine metaphor was the one that cropped up most often. We were constantly reading about running out of steam or the need to disconnect or recharge our batteries. Identifying how these metaphors are used is important, because our understanding of our bodies influences the way we act.