Carnival of invention

© 2019, Institut für Qualitative Forschung,Internationale Akademie Berlin gGmbH. All rights reserved. In this report we present a reflection on the Collaborative Poetics Network’s first “Carnival of Invention” which was held on 15th June 2018 at the University of Brighton, England. Collaborative poetics is an arts-based research method that brings together expertise from artists, academics, and community participants, to share knowledge and promote social change through engaging and accessible ways. On the day of the Carnival over 40 contributors from around the world came to participate in a series of workshops, presentations, installations and displays. In this article we outline the themes addressed on the day and the media utilized in these interactive and experiential sessions. We argue that this event supported the benefits of arts-based research in developing, analyzing, and communicating rich data sets. Finally, we provide evaluation and reflections from the event (including in haiku, a traditional Japanese form of poetry), in an attempt to creatively capture the events of the day.