How can art become a catalyst for social change? How do we move from awareness to action?

At Transition to 8, we explore these questions through participatory methods that place creativity, embodiment, and empathy at the heart of collective transformation. One of the core methodologies we employ is sociodrama, a powerful tool that enables individuals and communities to understand and reshape their realities from the inside out.

What is Sociodrama?

Originally developed by Jacob L. Moreno, sociodrama is not simply a performance method. It is a form of experiential group work that allows participants to explore social issues by enacting them. Rather than discussing problems from a distance, people step into roles and live out situations, often from multiple perspectives. This enables a deeper emotional connection, enhanced empathy, and creative problem-solving that traditional conversation alone cannot achieve.

By engaging in this shared performative space, groups gain a clearer view of the dynamics at play in their communities, power structures, relationships, social roles, and internalized beliefs, and analyse the above not only in relation to other people but endoscopically as well. In doing so, sociodrama becomes a rehearsal for real life: a space where alternative realities and futures can be imagined, tested, and emotionally experienced.

The Science Behind the Use of Sociodrama in TT8

Sociodrama is grounded in the principles of sociodynamics and sociometry, the study and mapping of social connections and group dynamics. Through these tools, participants are able to visualize and evaluate their positions, relationships, and collective attitudes in relation to specific issues. In the case of TT8, these issues revolve primarily around the environment. While the data generated is qualitative in nature, it is also deeply embodied, offering insights that cannot easily be captured through conventional means such as surveys or interviews.

To effectively capture and analyze this type of data, TT8 has developed a unique interdisciplinary methodology. Each sociodrama session is thoroughly recorded and documented by a team of specialists from the fields of psychology, social sciences, and computer science. Additionally, participants who consent to it wear wireless, wearable sensors that continuously monitor physiological indicators such as heart rate, skin temperature, and skin conductance throughout the entire session.

The qualitative observations made by the experts, along with the audio and video footage and the physiological sensor data, are then synchronized into a unified dataset. This integrated material is subsequently annotated to identify significant emotional, cognitive, and relational moments, resulting in the creation of carefully selected "super episodes." These episodes serve as curated excerpts that encapsulate key dynamics from the sessions.

Building on these super episodes, TT8 then develops final moodboards, rich, multimedia compositions that combine sonifications and visualizations of biometric data with selected images, phrases, data points, MIDI files, and other creative elements. These moodboards are ultimately shared with artists, serving as a generative foundation for the creation of new artworks that interpret and reimagine the lived and felt experience of the participants.

Drawing from Moreno’s vision of society - the healing of society through creativity and connection - Transition to 8 uses sociodrama to bring people together in meaningful dialogue and transformative expression. The ultimate goal is not only to raise awareness but to empower communities to co-create change.

Inside a Sociodrama Session: From Warm-up to Reflection

Each sociodrama session follows a flexible yet structured process designed to guide participants from imagination to insight:

- Warm-up: The group identifies and agrees on a pressing topic they want to explore.

- Role Casting: Participants either choose their roles spontaneously or the facilitator assigns them, based on the emerging narrative.

- Role Development: Participants expand on their roles creatively, building emotional depth and social context as they embody their characters.

- Enactment & Reflection: The session culminates in a group discussion where participants unpack what happened, reflect on emerging themes, explore solutions, and connect the experience back to real life.

This process works on both intellectual and emotional levels, creating a mirror between the roles we assume in daily life and those explored on the sociodramatic stage. Through this mirroring, deeper understanding and new “social synapses” are formed.

Sociodrama and the New European Bauhaus

Sociodrama aligns with the values of the New European Bauhaus: it bridges art, culture, sustainability, and social inclusion. It encourages participants to reflect on how their identities, environments, and communities interact. By using role-play and co-created scenarios, sociodrama helps groups envision how systemic issues manifest locally, and how they might respond together, beyond individual actions.

Why Sociodrama for Air Pollution?

In Transition to 8, sociodrama is used to examine the impact of air pollution on everyday life in Eleusis, Rennes, and Ljubljana. These workshops are not abstract conversations - they are embodied, participatory experiences that give voice to lived realities and transform invisible data into emotional, sensory knowledge.

Participants don’t just discuss how they experience air pollution in their cities; they feel it, act it out, and respond to it as communities. This performative process helps illuminate not only the environmental consequences of air pollution but also the social and psychological burdens caused by them - the fears, frustrations, and hopes people carry. It reveals how public opinion is shaped, how empathy is generated, and how solidarity is formed.

Toward Imaginative Action

In a world facing urgent environmental challenges, sociodrama offers more than reflection. It offers activation. It invites participants to imagine futures that are more just, inclusive, and sustainable, and to take their first steps toward them, together.

At Transition to 8, this is where our artistic journey begins. By working with the insights from these sessions, our international artist cohort will translate lived experiences into powerful works of art. These artistic interpretations will open new pathways for awareness, action, and engagement with the climate crisis in the urban environments of the 3 pilot cities.