How can crises within universities inspire the imagination?

Never let a good crisis go to waste: an unfinished timeline of the university

As an institution, the university is in perpetual crisis. Moments of stability should be viewed with suspicion rather than relief. This installation traces key historical crises— economic, political, cultural, and technological — that have continuously shaped the evolution of the university. Rather than viewing crisis as a problem, the Imaginative Methods Lab invited participants of the symposium to consider a crisis as a necessary condition of the university and to imagine how moments of disruption open possibilities to remake the university we want. The installation encourages participants to envision alternative futures for the university—ones that might emerge from, rather than despite, crisis. For more information, read the blog written by the Imaginative Mehtods team below.