Workshops on transdisciplinary storytelling and co-creation of a short film

Project description

Geo.X is the research network for Earth and Planetary Sciences in Berlin and Potsdam of four universities and five non-university research institutions. Our partners' vast scientific expertise in close vicinity enables us to pursue joint research issues critical to environmental security, resource supply, and sustainable development. In this way, Geo.X serves as a network for all those whose research or teaching relates to these topics, facilitating inter- and transdisciplinary approaches and exchange in the scientific community and beyond. Together with the artist Maximilian Grünewald, we will break new ground and realize a transdisciplinary co-creation project, using the medium of an artistic short film, to reflect and discuss storytelling in science.

We invite scientists from all disciplines to join this co-creative process and create a cinematic essay (15-20 min) to be presented at the Berlin Science Week 2024 coupled with panel discussions and exchange on transdisciplinary research. Narrative and content of the artistic outcome will be created within a workshop, consisting of three separate days between April and May 2024.

The projects’ primary objective is to explore the potential of artistic methods, to foster exchange and collaboration between disciplines. Applying the method of transdisciplinary storytelling, developed by Maximilian Grünewald, the participants will learn to use storytelling techniques, in order to convey their research to fellow scientists, as well as the interested public and at the same time reflect their own work.

The participants are invited to take part actively, by sharing thoughts on their research on camera, or passively, should they not want to appear in the visual outcome. Throughout the workshop, we will use non-scientific narrations, both historic and contemporary, to learn about storytelling beyond modern western world views, such as Greek and northern mythology, or indigenous origin stories. Further, we will apply acting methods, to explore a performative approach to storytelling. Equipped with this input, we will then collectively create a new story, which draws from both, the individual scientific research of the participants and non-scientific world views, as conveyed through mythology. The resulting short film will serve as a reflection and documentation of this process, presenting a story narrated by the scientists themselves.

While attendance for at least two of the three workshop days is expected, with preference given to the first and the second days, no additional workload is anticipated. However, we value and encourage extended involvement in both the preparation stage and in presentation of the project at the Berlin Science Week 2024.