Projects include AI storytelling, board game, documentary, dance performance.

Complex challenges like public health threats, social justice breakdowns and ecological degradation often intersect and exacerbate each other. To address these compounding crises, interdisciplinary and outside-the-box thinking that lead to creative solutions are needed.

The Seize the Moment initiative was developed in 2020 by the Arizona State University Humanities Lab, ASU-Leonardo Initiative and Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Lab. It brings together the arts, sciences, humanities and technology to address the most challenging questions of our time through collaborative research, social engagement projects and interdisciplinary, action-focused teaching strategies.

Costume design from Haikeus: Transmuting Ecological Grieving into Action.
Photo courtesy Galina Mihaleva

Seize the Moment faculty research seed grants were recently awarded to four teams spanning seven colleges/academic units; among them are eight faculty members, two students and one staff member from ASU's College of Global Futures. These teams seek to explore and address several complex global problems. 

“These seed grant projects demonstrate the enthusiasm of ASU faculty for interdisciplinary, challenge-focused research support. They also reinforce the important role of the arts and humanities in addressing urgent challenges — from a broken food system to the exigencies of immigration, climate disruption and social injustice,” said Sally Kitch, University and Regents Professor, founding director of the Humanities Lab and co-founder of the Seize the Moment initiative. “By probing the intersections of disciplines and the gaps between them — an important principle modeled by the Humanities Lab — projects like these can serve ASU’s commitment to responsible innovation, use-value scholarship and public engagement.” 

The four funded projects share some common themes: the importance of narrative, a sense of place and mindfulness about the lands we inhabit from both an ethical and environmental perspective. The grantees presented their work during Leonardo’s most recent LASER Talk at ASU. 

2023 Seize the Moment seed grant recipients 

AI-mediated Refugee Conversations: Building Documentary-Style Human-Computer Interfaces to Cultivate Empathic Interactive Oral Histories 

This team is working to create an AI-informed platform that facilitates conversations between refugees and the general public. Their hope is to generate empathy and understanding of the refugee experience through nuanced conversations. The platform will draw upon real stories shared by refugees living in Maricopa County while preserving their anonymity. This project leverages AI technology and offers an interactive experience; participants will be able to interview a simulated avatar that serves as a proxy for the real people who offered up their experiences.

An AI-generated avatar for use in the AI-mediated Refugee Conversations seed grant project. 
Photo courtesy RV Co-Lab/AI-generated image

Community Visions of the Salt River: Collaborative Meaning-Making through Game Play

The growing team behind this project is determined to tell an often overlooked story about the Salt River in a novel way — through an interactive board game. Their game, Living Lands, explores the connections between environmental damage, language loss in Indigenous communities and the importance of history. Playing through these topics, rather than listening to a single lecturer, creates a reciprocal learning experience that could be used in a wide variety of settings, from classrooms to homes to social gatherings. This game format also provides a template the project team hopes could apply to other topics, communities or ecosystems. 

Sample artwork from Living Lands, the game developed within the Community Visions of the Salt River seed grant project.
Photo courtesy Zoe Gentry

Taste of State 48

The Taste of 48 team takes a deep dive into Arizona’s unique food landscape. Inspired by the work of Slow Food Phoenix, this project will be the pilot of a 12-part documentary series that highlights the local, native and seasonal foods found across the state. The series will also explore some bigger questions about the land we inhabit, the foods we consume, and the relationship between these concepts and the broader interconnection to current social, cultural and environmental problems facing the American Southwest.

Haikeus: Transmuting Ecological Grieving into Action

Haikeus is a Finnish word that means a simultaneous feeling of sadness and gratitude. The team behind this project drew their inspiration from this concept, supplemented by a myriad of other strong emotional responses people can have to climate change. "Transmuting Ecological Grieving into Action" acknowledges the mental and emotional impacts that climate change can have and promote healing through intentional movement. Their dance-based performance piece is intended to spark optimism and inspire action in the face of challenging global events. Every aspect of this project was created mindfully, with sustainability at the forefront. After the performances come to an end, the costumes, which were crafted from biodegradable and water-soluble materials sourced from nature, will be returned to the earth and the seeds embedded in the material will sprout new plants.

A performer from the stage aspect of the Haikeus: Transmuting Ecological Grieving into Action seed grant project.
Photo courtesy Nathan Palance

About Seize the Moment

Started in 2020, Seize the Moment is a collaborative effort between the ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, the Humanities Lab and the ASU-Leonardo Initiative to bring together seemingly unconnected disciplines in order to address the most pressing problems facing the world today. Transdisciplinary arts, science, technology and humanities come together to advance pedagogy, research and public engagement in novel ways. This program emphasizes the importance of community collaboration that incorporates the voices of those who are directly impacted by the intersecting crises of social injustice, health and income disparities, and environmental threats. 

Past Seize the Moment seed grant recipients: https://humanities.lab.asu.edu/seize-the-moment/seed-grants