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Inventer et imaginer de nouveaux mondes

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Inventer et imaginer de nouveaux mondes

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Explorer et développer de nouveaux mondes

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Simuler et réaliser de nouveaux mondes

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Retourner au et transformer le présent

 

 

Core Q

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Participants
Your entire team of futurologists, however small or big. The exercise can be done in total assembly, or you can start with smaller sub-groups that gradually come together (it depends on what the situation demands in terms of dynamics, intimacy, energy flow, scenography...).
Space
Doesn't really matter, but it's nicer if the space is versatile and has tables, chairs, sofas, gardens and hiding places.
Roles
It is certainly easiest if someone facilitates the process - but in case the budget is tight it can also be self-managed by the group.
Material
An assortment of coloured markers and paper, a large board or space to share ideas, perhaps a scroll or a large banner to write down the core question like a nice title. In terms of design of your banner, you can place the cursor anywhere you wish in between corporate style, birthday party, trade union demonstration... We prefer pyrography to post-its, but it often ends in post-its anyway.
Preparation
Prepare the space and have the material ready.
Duration
Between 5 minutes and days and days of investigation and debates. If necessary (and this often proves to be the case), you can set time limits for the group to formulate proposals.
Horizon scanning

Use

To get off to a defiant start when creating different scenarios for possible futures, it is useful to formulate a central theme or question as a starting point. It is important that this question is chosen and shared by your whole team of futurologists. We recommend finding a theme or question that the whole team is really passionate about, because you will have to live with this question and take it seriously. If you don't choose the right question, the whole process of futurological divination will remain at a distance for everyone involved.

Protocol

Sometimes the question is self-evident, depending on the group and the situation. Other times you will have to walk a long path before finding a common working subject with the group. Look for urgencies that are shared within your group.

Ask everyone in the group to bring a constructive attitude: try to make existing proposals better or sharper, rather than focusing on what is not working well in them. Push the group towards a general consent.

Some tips for finding the right question:

  • Ask strong questions! (avoid 'yes' or 'no' questions). How, what, what if, why (but be careful with why).
  • Be careful with the wording and keep it short so everyone can easily remember the core question.
  • Choose a question that everyone involved can act on.
  • Continue to rephrase the question until it is good enough for everyone to live with.

Testimonies

It sounds easy, but often isn't. We tried to articulate core questions with different groups on different occasions. When there isn't a clear demand, desire or starting point for the group, it can be handy to use the old principle of 'snowballing' or exponential multiplication: start in duos that join another duo once they agreed on a common question, then this group of 4 comes to an agreement, and joins another group of 4, etc. On some occasions we applied tricky strategies like extremely strict time pressure to push the group forward. Make sure that in the end everyone in the group can 'live' with the question –and if they can't ask them to change it in such a way that they can.

Diederik P.

Some examples of questions that came up in different sessions we were involved in with groups of several sizes: What would our life be like if we moved to the countryside? How to escape the general feeling of powerlessness? How to put an end to private ownership of habitats and land? What can we do to make our festival more welcoming and more inclusive? Where should we make cuts in our budget? What should our organisation be doing 20 years from now? How can we learn to live together again with the otter in our region? How can we break capitalistic habits by means of collaboration? How can we develop our relationships with our pets?

Anna Cz.

Credits

Maja Kuzmanovic tried to teach us how to ask strong questions during her Futurology-workshop in February 2019 at PAF. We still find it hard.

This pad was written by Anna Cz. and Diederik P., who copy-pasted quite a lot from Delphine Hesters' tremendously clear notes of Maja's workshop. Thank you Delphine!

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