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Paper short abstract

The Black Box of Policy is a multimodal immersive installation exploring the affective, relational life of policy making around stigmatising skin diseases. Through images, sound, and voice, it brings together diverse perspectives to foster empathy and dialogue across divides.

Paper long abstract

The Black Box of Policy is a multimodal installation emerging from anthropological research conducted with people involved in policy advocacy for stigmatising skin diseases. Drawing on interviews, conversations, and observations with actors positioned very differently within global health, from high-level policymakers to people living with neglected tropical diseases, it explores what lies inside the often-invoked yet poorly understood “black box” of policy making. Rather than treating policy as a purely bureaucratic or technical process, the work foregrounds its affective, relational, and contingent dimensions. The installation combines paintings of real and imagined scenes with layered soundscapes of real, performed, and fictive voices, alongside music and lighting. These elements are deliberately arranged in a flattened, non-linear, “messy” form that gives equal weight to a multiplicity of perspectives. In doing so, the work creates a shared sensory space inviting audiences to encounter policy as something that touches and troubles hearts as much as it governs lives. Observations of audience engagement, including parliamentarians and people directly affected by disease, suggest that this approach can open dialogue, foster empathy, and challenge processes of othering across entrenched social and political divides.

Ideally, the installation would be brought to the conference and presented inside of, or alongside, a conventional paper presentation. The work takes the form of a small tent that can be erected within a room, with an immersive experience lasting approximately five minutes. A short explanatory video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omBbd_vCaKU . I would be happy to liaise with EASA regarding logistical considerations.