WEBVTT

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In the summer of 2017,

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a woman was murdered
by her partner in Sofia.

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The woman, let's call her Vee,

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was beaten for over 50 minutes

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before she died.

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The morning after,

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her neighbors told the press
that they heard her screams,

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but they didn't intervene.

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You see, in Bulgaria

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and many other societies,

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domestic violence is typically seen
as a private matter.

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Neighbors, however, are quick to react
to any other kind of noise.

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We wanted to expose and affect
the absurdity of this,

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so we designed an experiment.

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We rented the apartment
just below Vee's for one night,

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and at 10pm,

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Maxim, the artist in our group,

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sat on the drum set
we had assembled in the living room

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and started beating it.

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Ten seconds.

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Thirty seconds.

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Fifty seconds.

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A minute.

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A light came on in the hallway.

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One minute and 20 seconds.

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A man was standing at the door,
hesitant to press the bell.

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One minute and fifty-two seconds.

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The doorbell rang,

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a ring that could have saved a life.

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Beat is our project exploring
the ominous silence

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surrounding domestic violence.

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We filmed the experiment
and it became instantly viral.

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Our campaign amplified
the voices of survivors

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who shared similar stories online.

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It equipped neighbors
with specific advice,

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and many committed to taking action.

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In a country where every other week,

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the ground quietly embraces
the body of a woman

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murdered by a partner or a relative,

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we were loud and we were heard.

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I am an activist,

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passionate about human rights innovation.

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I lead a global organization
for socially engaged creative solutions.

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In my work, I think about
how to make people care and act.

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I am here to tell you

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that creative actions can save the world,

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creative actions and play,

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and I know it is weird to talk about play
and human rights in the same sentence,

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but here is why it is important.

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More and more, we fear
that we can't win this.

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Campaigns feel dull,

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messages drown,

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people break.

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Numerous studies, including a recent one
published by Columbia University,

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show that burnout and depression
are widespread amongst activists.

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Years ago, I myself was burned out.

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In a world of endless ways forward,
I felt at my final stop.

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So what melts fear or dullness or gloom?

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Play.

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From this very stage, psychiatrist
and play researcher Dr. Stuart Brown

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said that nothing
lights up the brain like play,

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and that the opposite of play is not work,

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it's depression.

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So to pull out of my own burnout,

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I decided to turn my activism
into what I call today playtivism.

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(Laughter)

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When we play, others want to join.

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Today, my playground
is filled with artists,

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techies, and scientists.

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We fuse disciplines
in radical collaboration.

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Together, we seek new ways
to empower activism.

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Our outcomes are not
meant to be playful,

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but our process is.

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To us, play is an act of resistance.

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For example, Beat,

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the project I talked about earlier,

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is a concept developed by a drummer
and a software engineer

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who didn't know each other
two days before they pitched the idea.

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Beat is the first winner in our lab series

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where we pair artists and technologists
to work on human rights issues.

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Other winning concepts
include a pop-up bakery

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that teaches about fake news through
beautiful but horrible-tasting cupcakes

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(Laughter)

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or a board game that puts you
in the shoes of a dictator

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so you get to really grasp the range
of tools and tactics of oppression.

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We did our first lab
just to test the idea,

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to see where it cracks
and if we can make it better.

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Today, we are so in love with the format
that we put it all online

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for anyone to implement.

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I cannot overstate the value
of experimentation in activism.

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We can only win
if we are not afraid to lose.

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When we play, we learn.

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A recent study published
by Stanford University

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about the science
of what makes people care

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reconfirms what we have
been hearing for years:

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opinions are changed
not from more information

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but through empathy and using experiences.

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So learning from science and art,

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we saw that we can talk about
global armed conflict through light bulbs,

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or address racial inequality in the US

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through postcards,

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or tackle the lack of even
one single monument of a woman in Sofia

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by flooding the city with them,

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and with all these works

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to trigger dialogue,
understanding, and direct action.

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Sometimes, when I talk about
taking risks and trying and failing

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in the context of human rights,

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I meet raised eyebrows,

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eyebrows that say, "How irresponsible,"

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or, "How insensitive."

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People often mistake play for negligence.

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It is not.

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Play doesn't just grow our armies stronger
or spark better ideas.

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In times of painful injustice,

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play brings the levity we need
to be able to breathe.

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When we play, we live.

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I grew up in a time

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when all play was forbidden.

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My family's lives were crushed
by a communist dictatorship.

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For my aunt, my grandfather, my father,

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we always held two funerals,

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one for their bodies, but,
years before that, one for their dreams.

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Some of my biggest dreams are nightmares.

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I have a nightmare that one day
all the past will be forgotten

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and new clothes will be dripping
the blood of past mistakes.

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I have a nightmare

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that one day the lighthouses
of our humanity will crumble,

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corroded by acid waves of hate.

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But way more than that, I have hope.

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In our fights for justice and freedom,

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I hope that we play,

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and that we see the joy
and beauty of us playing together.

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That's how we win.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)