The Transforming Violence Travelling Exhibition will be a new type of public forum that combines:

• a participatory exhibition with exhibits that tell the stories of projects around the world that are effectively addressing issues of violence

• a social intelligence laboratory that creates a context for intergenerational learning where people can experiment with innovative approaches to violence and contribute their ideas and feedback

What is a social intelligence laboratory?

IMAGINE a place where people in your community could learn about successful ways to stop violence:

• A place to find out how ordinary people have used their particular talents or interests to create powerful programs for addressing violence – in their local communities, as well as internationally.

• A space for exhibits and workshops where citizens learn how youth, businesses, police, religious organizations, local government, schools, parents and artists work together to break the cycle of violence in a community.

• An intergenerational learning center where people from all backgrounds could experience new approaches to education, dialogue and citizenship.

• A "Fresh Thinking" café where you could discuss "fresh thinking" instead of the ideas you already know you have – a place to engage in open-hearted communication and think together about how to create new options for local, national and international security.

• A place where you could find out how to use your particular interests or talents to transform violence.

The Transforming Violence Exhibition and Social Intelligence Laboratory will:

• Provide a space for people to share their ideas, questions, hopes and dreams.

• Inspire citizens to apply what they have learned to their own situations.

• Inform people of ways they can get involved locally, nationally and internationally.

• Disseminate information and analysis that will contribute to "fresh thinking" conversations.

• Teach skills and behaviors that encourage democratic participation.

• Offer opportunities for people to develop their ideas and communicate them in live discussion and in a variety of media.

• Explore the development of new types of workshops and exhibitions that foster participatory learning, respectful communication and citizen activism.

Exhibition materials will include:

• Stories of innovative methods of addressing issues of violence in a wide range of situations around the world.

• Photographs, text, web pages and artifacts that lend depth to the stories.

• Access to databases with resources for transforming violence.

• Documentation of the ongoing events of the exhibition, as well as evaluation and feedback (interviews, questionnaires, and artwork) that archive and exhibit the responses visitors make to the programs and exhibitions.

Community Think-Tank
The ideas and feedback of participants in the Exhibition/Laboratory will become part of the knowledge base for developing new approaches to transform violence. In addition to participating in more intensive workshops and discussion groups on specific topics, visitors will become part of an informal think tank that will inform the research and development of Transforming Violence:

• Through reports on their involvement in activities to transform violence.

• Through text and artwork they add to the audience response section of the exhibition. These will be displayed so that cumulative dialogue can take place in a dynamic audio-visual visitors’ book.

• Through an expression of a commitment to transform violence (e.g., signing a pledge, wearing a ribbon, adding to a mural, participating in a ceremony, sending a message of peace).

Community space
The exhibition/laboratory will offer citizens the opportunity to explore the concept of a new type of transformative community space. There will be displays of drawings, designs and models available for discussion and feedback, as well as discussions and workshops that explore the research and development of public spaces that are conducive to open inquiry and creative activism.

If you would like the Transforming Violence Exhibition and Social Intelligence Laboratory to travel to your community, please contact us and request an application form:
exhibit@transformingviolence.org