UNESCO Chair
on Visual Anticipation
and Futures Literacy
towards Visual Literacy

What do participants in a Visual Literacy workshop experience?

Visual Literacy (VL) workshops apply to a wide range of topics - from culture and education to politics, economics, environment, social structures and institutions, to name only a few - and are designed by experienced facilitators.

During a Visual Literacy workshop and through Futures Literacy (FL) and Collective Intelligence Knowledge Creation (CIKC) process participants learn a new capability. FL and CIKC encourages participation, experimentation and creativity, and is applicable to everyone regardless of age, culture, cognitive level and professional occupation.

Visual Literacy digs into the roots of our assumptions and locate their origin in visual imagery. By drawing from our daily interaction with a broad variety of images VL assists participants to explore the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of their thinking and acting. Once they understand the perceptions that determine their anticipatory assumptions, they recognise as well the story-behind-the-story that dominant narratives hold. Hence, participants develop tools that can profoundly challenge their perceptions about ongoing events, their possibilities, and the nature of the patterns, values and structures they carry.

Through specific methodological steps that stimulate creativity and imagination, and by applying experimental and experiential play, Visual Literacy workshops offer participants the opportunity to explore their own stories; to critically comprehend collective narratives; and, thus, equip themselves with the choice to curve their own path in the present and in the future.

Useful links:

Futures Literacy Knowlabs

Learning arenas through Future Literacy Laboratories