Gravity Play: A co-creation session on changing risks and policy innovation, via juggling and acrobatics with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
When it comes to turning knowledge into policy, research shows that showing research doesn’t work. Inaction surrounds us. If we want to go beyond the status quo, we need to actively pursue breakthroughs. The design and implementation of policy development processes needs to deliberately open space for imagination. Given the gravity and complexity of changing risks, we must improve the candour, courage, and creativity of communication, building relationships, enhancing problem solving.
Because our work requires creative learning and dialogue, both CERN IdeaSquare and the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre have been exploring embodied methodologies for policy innovation: unconventional approaches to engage people and organisations in difficult conversations about what can go wrong and what to do about it.
This unconventional workshop was held to explore and experience the uplifting awe and wonder offered by acrobatics, juggling, and circus arts that truly embody concepts of risk management. Via designed interaction and playful activities, the participants co-created tangible, actionable ideas to support policy design and innovation for CERN IdeaSquare educational programmes, the humanitarian sector, and beyond.
These embodied methodologies for creative collaborations and innovation can take many forms and adapt to multiple contexts. In this workshop, they supported discussions around mental health, policy design, and research. One of those forms can be using balance and juggling to work on trust, timing, communication, and interdependence. Another simple one can be an exercise to notice gravity, eliciting the unseen in order to realise that everything at play is not directly visible.
