Icarus receives wax wings from his father so he can fly towards his freedom. Icarus' father warns him first of complacency and then of hubris, asking that he fly neither too low nor too high, so the sea's dampness would not clog his wings or the sun's heat melt them. Icarus ignored his father's instructions not to fly too close to the sun; when the wax in his wings melted he tumbled out of the sky and fell into the sea where he drowned.

Icarus is a foundation that challenges the norm that you have to be successful in order to be happy. Many young adults struggle with burn-out and depression and feel like they don't live up to the high standards set by our society. We are constantly bombarded with images of successful and happy people on social media which makes our own lives seem dull and lacking. The truth is most people feel lonely sometimes and the road to succes is often full of failures and disappointments. Icarus strives to make people aware that it's ok and maybe even necessary to fail and feelings of loneliness are actually an opportunity to connect with ourselves and others. There are four activities with which they do this:  

When you fall down from the sky with the air whooshing in your ears, the world is upside down. Looking at the world from this angle may give you new insights, looking at things differently because your wings gave out. A modern translation of the story of Icarus which is a very effective analogy to our modern high performance society.

Vier het falen = Celebrate failure

Check the website www.icarus-amsterdam.nl

First sketches