11153: New Ways of Seeing: Non-Verbal and Multimodal Approaches to the Future

‘The future’ has become a watchword in organization and management research and practice: there seems to be no end to the preoccupation with how actors produce futures, how these are received, and how actors—including scholars—try to turn their preferred futures into reality. Curiosity and concern about the future are also pushing scholars, managers, and policy makers to explore novel ways and tools beyond verbal language. Despite the growing interest, non-verbal (e.g., visual, material, spatial) and multimodal means of communication, as well as their implications for the study of the future, have not yet received the same attention as verbal approaches. This is unfortunate, as visual, material, or spatial resources are not just add-ons to the verbal mode; rather, they are essential modes that construct and enable the emergence of meaning in their own ways. In this PDW, we aim to collectively develop a robust research agenda around the intersection of scholarly work on the future and non-verbal/multimodal resources by bringing together a group of established scholars with a shared interest in this emerging area. Our goal is to provide theoretical, empirical, and impact-centered perspectives highlighting the affordances of non-verbal and multimodal approaches to the future. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to formulate interesting and new research questions at this intersection, how to successfully grapple with methodological challenges, and how to strengthen scholar-practitioner collaboration and communication to enhance the impact of such work.

This is a two-part PDW, consisting of panel presentations and a breakout roundtable session. While formal registration is not required, we encourage you to send us a brief summary (1 page max) of your research interests related to the roundtable topic (see list below), along with your preferred roundtable(s), to ines.kuric@wu.ac.at by July 10, 2025. This will foster a more engaging roundtable discussion and help you receive targeted feedback from our distinguished panelists and roundtable facilitators. If you’re interested in attending but are not ready to submit a summary, we strongly encourage you to indicate your preferred roundtable(s) to ines.kuric@wu.ac.at by July 10, 2025, so we can share your interest with the roundtable facilitators. Table 1: Future-making and visual artefacts (Luigi Mosca, Matthias Wenzel, Jennifer Whyte) Table 2: Multimodal approaches to envisioning and shaping imagined futures (Markus Höllerer, Renate Meyer) Table 3: The role of gesture, materiality, and space for creativity, pitches, and innovation (Paolo Aversa, Jean Clarke, Maria Laura Toraldo) Table 4: Using non-verbal resources to convey sustainability, engage with stakeholders, have impact (Eva Boxenbaum, Jean-Pascal Gond, Birthe Soppe) Table 5: Big data and hype, entrepreneurship, AI (Tim Hannigan, Christine Moser)

Designmuseum Denmark
Room: Festsalen (first floor)
Address: Bredgade 68, 1260 Copenhagen K