Special Interest Group: Creative Research Methods
The SIG Creative Research Methods (CRM) is an informal network where creative researchers can share experiences and ideas across disciplines. The SIG CRM aims to promote good practices for creative research practice and creative research education. It also aims to increase knowledge about creative research methods and discuss ways to further develop them. Growing communities of researchers demonstrate a
Dramaturgy as a Practice of Lateral Movement
This project involves Sigrid Merx, Anastasia Hacopian and Trine Friis Sørensen, who together are developing a learning activity and a research article on Co-created Positionality Statements. The purpose of the project is to enable students working in a group tobecome aware of and reflect on their own positionality and that of others. This will enable them
Creative Urban Methods Dossier
This special issue of Mediapolis, A Journal of Cities and Culture by Sigrid Merx, Coco Kanters, Michiel de Lange, and Nanna Verhoeff, introduces a dossier that positions creative methods as vital approaches for researching contemporary urban life. The authors argue that experimental, situated, embodied, and relational practices—such as data walking, performative mapping, experimental ethnography, and participatory research—generate forms
The Art of Being a University
The Art of Being a University is a creative, arts-based dialogue method that uses the tapestry Being a University as a catalyst for collective inquiry into the role, values, and societal meaning of the university. Rather than seeking consensus or solutions, participants engage in open-ended conversations that explore multiple perspectives through close observation, reflection, and discussion of the artwork. By
Het Vlak /The Square
Het Vlak is a creative, object-based dialogue method that enables participants to collaboratively explore complex societal and research-related questions. Rather than debating or seeking solutions, participants use physical objects to represent actors, relationships, and emotions, generating shared reflection through embodied, spatial interaction. Guided by Sigrid Merx, the process encourages active listening, perspective-taking, and engagement with ambiguity and discomfort. By treating
Simulation, Speculation and Futurity in Contemporary Dramaturgy
This research project and book (forthcoming at Routledge in 2026) observes and documents a return to fiction, in contemporary theatre and performance. In response to pressing issues such as climate change, faltering democracies or social inequality, artists rediscover the value and necessity of imagination and speculation, in order to create alternative scenarios for a world