Research summary
Despite significant social and scientific progress, our modern world faces a myriad of complex challenges that seem impossible to resolve. But these “wicked” problems (which are difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory and changing requirements, such as the environmental crisis) reflect the societies that generate them. To resolve them, we must transform the social imaginary—that is, the mainstream, collective consensus about reality that shapes what we view as possible.
Dr. Mary Bunch, Canada Research Chair in Critical Media Arts Ecologies, is applying immersive storytelling in media arts as a way to envision and create a multitude of ecological imaginaries. By organizing and running community workshops and gatherings, she and her research team are working with other key collaborators to create multiple media arts worlds that can open up the possibility of transitioning to more sustainable, equitable societies.