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Submission Number: 328
Submission ID: 394
Submission UUID: 3be059ae-1687-4708-a0a9-987278bab62e
Submission URI: /ga/form/submit-contribution
Cruthaithe: Sun, 1 Mar 2026 - 16:22
Déanta: Mon, 2 Mar 2026 - 12:29
Changed: Wed, 13 May 2026 - 08:13
Remote IP address: 188.189.214.71
Submitted by: Ida Bomm
Teanga: English
Is draft: Níl
Current page: webform_confirmation
Flagged: Tá
| Given name | Ida |
|---|---|
| Surname | Bomm |
| ida.bomm@posteo.de | |
| I understand that by submitting this form, I consent to the use of my data for the purposes of the 2026 Forum on Artistic Research'. | Tá |
| I agree to the terms of service. | Tá |
| Title | Activating Spatial Metaphors as Tool to Reclaim Strategic Writing from Neoliberal Aesthetics |
| Format | Workshop |
| Main language | English |
| Abstract | The writing and self-publishing of strategic texts (mission, vision, and value statements) within social-profit organisational and institutional contexts is often an undervalued yet authoritative practice. It is typically carried out to meet responsibilities toward funding bodies or to align with cooperative market logics. The development of "About (Us)" page therefore becomes often a publishing realm in which neoliberal aesthetics creep into our work, life and its representations. In this workshop session, the practice of strategic writing is reclaimed as a literary genre within the field of visionary fiction—a form of “fantastical writing that helps us imagine new just worlds” (Imarisha, 2016). The workshop proposes a shift away from strategic writing as a cooperative, non-fictional mode of communication toward an understanding of it as a speculative literary practice. This approach allows participants to connect, through (visual) writing, with the immaterial futures they are envisioning, and to critically reflect on them in a subsequent step. Strategic writing is approached through the literary device of spatial metaphors, which function as a vehicle to bring material and immaterial worlds into closer proximity. In doing so, the workshop challenges a perception of strategic writing as purely goal-oriented and instead activates it as a strategy for pausing and critical reflection: Which imaginary spaces will the collective engagement of you and the people you work with produce in the future? What are its ecologies? How does it welcome bodies and species? How is it equipped to tackle institutional, ideological, interpersonal, and internalised oppression? The workshop introduces a methodology designed to be applicable across different local contexts. Whereas we agree to communicate within a reflective framework in a shared language, participants are encouraged and through the use of metaphors as visual-literary practice to engage in their own languages. |
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| Short biographies of the presenter(s) |
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| Previous presentations or iterations of the research | This workshop is currently under development. Its research is developed and critically reviewed within the freestanding course "Writing and Publishing in Contemporary Art" at HDK-Valand. It is accepted to be realised at the ITAC8 conference in Antwerp in August 2026 and is currently tested and improved in small-scale test runs with people experienced working in the cultural sector of Flanders, Belgium. |
| Additional information | The workshop is designed in a 90min format, 8-12 participants. 5 min: Introduction & group arrangement (agreement on collaborative ethics) 10 min: Sharing perceptions & experiences on strategic writing 45 min: Crafting personal vision and mission statements through Spatial Metaphors (individual writing and drawing exercise with printed working material and shared drawing and collaging material from "spatial metaphor toolbox") 20 min: Critical reflection of spatial metaphors (smaller group arrangement with printed working material: "action cards") 10 min: Collective reflection and debriefing (whole group arrangement) LO: - Apply methods to visualise and articulate immaterial futures through spatial metaphors, connecting ideas with action. - Compose frameworks for critical reflection on own roles within organisational and institutional networks. - Contrast different frameworks within the group of learners and acknowledge their local, cultural, political specificities. |
| Spatial and technical requirements | Spatial requirements: - tables (3-4 small group table arrangements) - chairs according to number of participants - 1 material table (spatial metaphor toolbox, action cards, drawing and collaging material) Technical requirements: - projector (beamer) - projection surface (screen or white wall) - connection option (HDMI) - power outlet near presentation area or extension cable |
| Potential risks or ethical concerns | As argued by Katherine McKittrick in Dear Science and Other Stories, an ethical risk emerges when spatial metaphors are treated as fixed interiors. This risks “remov[ing] social actors from the production of space” (McKittrick 2021, 10). The workshop therefore embeds the development of spatial metaphors within a framework of critical reflection on the relationality between literary, visual, and materialised spaces, using designed action cards. |
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