21 August 2017 - 27 August 2017
Stockholm, Sweden

The Stockholm Act

Gloria Benedikt, IIASA Associate for Science and Arts, presented findings from the newly published IIASA brochure ‘How Artists Can Support Sustainability Transformations’ at The Stockholm Act festival in Sweden. 

© Ino Lucia

© Ino Lucia

The Stockholm Act brings together people from science, politics, business, and art for a week-long festival that explores the steps we can take to build a sustainable world. The festival is developed by the Stockholm Coordination Initiative to raise awareness about sustainable development towards 2030.

The ethos of The Stockholm Act is that real transformation comes through a mix of bold steps and deep-rooted connection to things that matter most. The festival offers a number of ways to engage including: collaboration, performance, and exhibition; creating space for new stories to take root, with time to talk, perform, appreciate, and imagine how we live next.

One of the questions the festival raises is: "How can we today say 'Yes we can'' when so many feel no hope?" 

Gloria Benedikt presented the findings from the new IIASA brochure How Artists Can Support Sustainability Transformations’ on the second day of the festival at The Morning Sofa, hosted by Huffington Post journalist Amitangshu Acharya. Gloria was accompanied by composer and longtime collaborator, Merlijn Twaalfhoven .  


© Mark Charmer. Left to right: Huffington Post journalist Amitangshu Acharya, Gloria Benedickt, and Merlijn Twaalfhoven










The brochure provides insights into initial results of science and arts activities at IIASA. Systems analysis is a problem-solving process that seeks to understand individual elements, and how they might interact, while accounting for the system as a whole.

The brochure explores the role art can play in this process, and how it might contribute to a global transformation to sustainability. It showcases examples from IIASA and around the world of how the interaction between scientists and artists can foster systemic thinking and, more importantly, systemic action. At the same time, it highlights how public engagement can be facilitated through this collaboration.







© Mark Charmer. Gloria Benedickt and Merlijn Twaalfhoven.





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Last edited: 23 August 2017

The Stockholm Act

IIASA Science and Arts Brochure

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313