Judith Igelsboeck, Linz Institute of Technology (LIT), Institute of Organization Science, Johannes Kepler University Linz; Friedrich Kirschner, University of Performative Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin
Toronto 2021: Performance
‘Enacting Innovation’ is a fusion of digital theatre and social science. It is an attempt of combining the performance of research on organizational innovating with the creation of possibilities for its re-imagination. In the participatory staging of the fabric characterizing contemporary innovation, participants negotiate the roles and situations that are frequently encountered in innovation processes. They act out challenges and conflicts with each other and the technical infrastructures typically employed within such contexts. The participatory play is inspired by social scientific research on ‘innovation scripts’ – the recipes followed in dealing with the omnipresent pressure to prove innovative ability in contemporary organizational life. Innovation scripts tell us for instance who is and who is not supposed to partake in innovation activities (innovation ensemble) and in which settings and atmospheres innovations are expected to happen (innovation stages). The aesthetic dramatization of these innovation scripts aims to make innovation dynamics ‘experienceable’. It provokes thinking about our powers and powerlessnesses when it comes to steering and interfering with processes of societal change and renewal. ‘
‘Enacting innovation’ is a cooperation of the University of Performative Arts Ernst Busch in Berlin and the Linz Institute of Technology of the Johannes Kepler University – funded by the LIT Ars Electronica Festival Call 2020.
