Ylva Björnberg: Collective Imagination Projects, Trainings and Podcast Interviews

Trainings in Imagination Methodologies and Co-Creative Leadership

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Imagination-led Projects

Place Relations: A Performative Experience Workshop

This workshop explores sustainable place development through a posthumanist lens. It aims to engage participants in a deeper relationship with place and nature by utilizing various artistic processes from roleplay, game design, and process drama.

The workshop is structured as a two-hour session for municipal officials, elected representatives, and professionals in various fields related to place development. It was created as part of an examination assignment for the Sustainable Development in Educational Perspectives through Artistic Processes course at Linnaeus University in June 2024.

How to Meet Genius Loci, the Spirit of Place

Through guided meditation and music, participants are guided into a Non-Ordinary Reality version of their place, interacting with various characters relating to their place and learning about their place from perspectives outside of their ordinary reality. A range of artistic and experiential methods are employed, such as ritual, embodying nonhuman beings, group still images, whole-group improvisation, teacher-in-role, drawing-in-role, writing-in-role, small group sharing, word-weaving, entering a travel agency, immersing in seawater, and entering The Cave of Ancient Echoes in the World Between Worlds.

Theory: Places as Fields of Relationships

The workshop is grounded in posthumanist theory, which challenges traditional anthropocentric views that place humans at the center of the universe. Drawing on the ideas of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, the workshop emphasizes a relational and integrated view of the world, where all actors—human and non-human—are interconnected. The concept of "smooth space," in contrast to "striated space," helps frame places as dynamic fields of relationships rather than static locations dominated by human activity. The pedagogical approach aligns with relational materialism, suggesting that knowledge emerges from the interaction of all elements within a given space.

Results: A Shift in Understanding of Place

The transformative nature of the workshop (here referring to an altered, second version of the process drama Our Place in Ginnungagap, conducted with a select transdisciplinary group of professionals) allowed participants to experience a shift in their understanding of place. Participants reported feeling more open, playful, and intellectually free to think beyond traditional boundaries of what a place is and can be. Two participants wished they could have stayed longer in the experience.

Sources: Bowell, Pamela; Heap, Brian S. (2013), Planning Process Drama: Enriching Teaching and Learning, Routledge, New York Bowman, Sarah Lynne; Hedgard Hugaas, Kjell (2019), Transformative Role-Play: Design, Implementation, and Integration, Nordiclarp.org Johansson, Lotta (2017), Rörelsens pedagogik: Att tillvarata lärandets kraft (The Pedagogy of Movement: Harnessing the Power of Learning) In: Bergstedt, Bosse (ed.) (2017). Posthumanistisk pedagogik: teori, undervisning och forskningspraktik (Posthumanist Pedagogy: Theory, Teaching, and Research Practice). First edition. Malmö: Gleerups Utbildning Illeris, H (2017), Subjectivation, togetherness, environment. Potentials of participatory art for Art Education for Sustainable Development (AESD), Nordic Journal of Art and Research, 6 (1) Hallgren, Eva (2018), Ledtrådar till estetiskt engagemang i processdrama: Samspel i roll i en fiktiv verksamhet (Clues to Aesthetic Engagement in Process Drama: Interaction in Role in a Fictional Setting), doctoral dissertation, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Education, Stockholm University, Stockholm Lenz Taguchi, Hillevi (2017), Pedagogisk dokumentation som aktiv agent: introduktion till intra-aktiv pedagogik (Pedagogical Documentation as an Active Agent: Introduction to Intra-Active Pedagogy). 1st ed. Malmö: Gleerups Springgay, Stephanie; Truman, Sarah E. (2018), Introduction to Walking Methodologies in a More-than-Human World. First published in paperback 2019. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge

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