1 00:00:01,334 --> 00:00:04,378 In the summer of 2017, 2 00:00:04,402 --> 00:00:07,550 a woman was murdered by her partner in Sofia. 3 00:00:08,673 --> 00:00:11,801 The woman, let's call her "V," 4 00:00:11,825 --> 00:00:15,120 was beaten for over 50 minutes 5 00:00:15,144 --> 00:00:16,461 before she died. 6 00:00:17,479 --> 00:00:19,194 The morning after, 7 00:00:19,218 --> 00:00:22,916 her neighbors told the press that they heard her screams, 8 00:00:22,940 --> 00:00:24,549 but they didn't intervene. 9 00:00:25,772 --> 00:00:29,727 You see, in Bulgaria and many other societies, 10 00:00:29,751 --> 00:00:33,159 domestic violence is typically seen as a private matter. 11 00:00:34,026 --> 00:00:38,999 Neighbors, however, are quick to react to any other kind of noise. 12 00:00:40,404 --> 00:00:44,128 We wanted to expose and affect the absurdity of this. 13 00:00:44,889 --> 00:00:47,427 So we designed an experiment. 14 00:00:48,224 --> 00:00:52,261 We rented the apartment just below V's for one night. 15 00:00:53,017 --> 00:00:54,588 And at 10pm, 16 00:00:54,612 --> 00:00:57,437 Maksim, the artist in our group, 17 00:00:57,461 --> 00:01:00,958 sat on the drum set we had assembled in the living room 18 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,097 and started beating it. 19 00:01:05,418 --> 00:01:06,814 Ten seconds. 20 00:01:07,910 --> 00:01:09,398 Thirty seconds. 21 00:01:10,289 --> 00:01:11,903 Fifty seconds. 22 00:01:12,923 --> 00:01:14,263 A minute. 23 00:01:15,095 --> 00:01:17,254 A light came on in the hallway. 24 00:01:18,353 --> 00:01:20,196 One minute and 20 seconds. 25 00:01:21,295 --> 00:01:24,826 A man was standing at the door, hesitant to press the bell. 26 00:01:26,032 --> 00:01:28,524 One minute and 52 seconds. 27 00:01:29,148 --> 00:01:30,983 The doorbell rang, 28 00:01:31,997 --> 00:01:34,648 a ring that could have saved a life. 29 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,818 "Beat." is our project exploring the ominous silence 30 00:01:39,842 --> 00:01:42,085 surrounding domestic violence. 31 00:01:42,109 --> 00:01:45,706 We filmed the experiment, and it became instantly viral. 32 00:01:45,730 --> 00:01:48,032 Our campaign amplified the voices of survivors 33 00:01:48,056 --> 00:01:50,077 who shared similar stories online. 34 00:01:50,674 --> 00:01:52,789 It equipped neighbors with specific advice, 35 00:01:52,813 --> 00:01:54,828 and many committed to taking action. 36 00:01:55,629 --> 00:01:58,364 In a country where every other week, 37 00:01:58,388 --> 00:02:01,375 the ground quietly embraces the body of a woman 38 00:02:01,399 --> 00:02:04,184 murdered by a partner or a relative, 39 00:02:04,208 --> 00:02:06,009 we were loud, 40 00:02:06,033 --> 00:02:07,484 and we were heard. 41 00:02:10,627 --> 00:02:12,717 I am an activist, 42 00:02:12,741 --> 00:02:15,096 passionate about human rights innovation. 43 00:02:15,958 --> 00:02:19,885 I lead a global organization for socially engaged creative solutions. 44 00:02:19,909 --> 00:02:24,769 In my work, I think about how to make people care and act. 45 00:02:25,789 --> 00:02:30,957 I am here to tell you that creative actions can save the world, 46 00:02:30,981 --> 00:02:33,607 creative actions and play. 47 00:02:34,576 --> 00:02:39,723 I know it is weird to talk about play and human rights in the same sentence, 48 00:02:39,747 --> 00:02:41,799 but here is why it's important. 49 00:02:43,038 --> 00:02:46,848 More and more, we fear that we can't win this. 50 00:02:47,495 --> 00:02:49,262 Campaigns feel dull, 51 00:02:49,286 --> 00:02:50,756 messages drown, 52 00:02:51,267 --> 00:02:52,791 people break. 53 00:02:54,082 --> 00:02:58,055 Numerous studies, including a recent one published by Columbia University, 54 00:02:58,079 --> 00:03:01,734 show that burnout and depression are widespread amongst activists. 55 00:03:02,417 --> 00:03:05,159 Years ago, I myself was burned out. 56 00:03:05,183 --> 00:03:09,612 In a world of endless ways forward, I felt at my final stop. 57 00:03:10,605 --> 00:03:15,093 So what melts fear or dullness or gloom? 58 00:03:15,793 --> 00:03:17,002 Play. 59 00:03:17,469 --> 00:03:21,730 From this very stage, psychiatrist and play researcher Dr. Stuart Brown 60 00:03:21,754 --> 00:03:24,534 said that nothing lights up the brain like play, 61 00:03:25,582 --> 00:03:27,746 and that the opposite of play is not work, 62 00:03:27,770 --> 00:03:29,040 it's depression. 63 00:03:29,729 --> 00:03:32,100 So to pull out of my own burnout, 64 00:03:32,124 --> 00:03:37,769 I decided to turn my activism into what I call today "play-tivism." 65 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:39,926 (Laughter) 66 00:03:40,339 --> 00:03:43,600 When we play, others want to join. 67 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:46,711 Today, my playground is filled with artists, 68 00:03:46,735 --> 00:03:48,440 techies and scientists. 69 00:03:48,846 --> 00:03:51,981 We fuse disciplines in radical collaboration. 70 00:03:52,658 --> 00:03:55,713 Together, we seek new ways to empower activism. 71 00:03:56,346 --> 00:03:59,032 Our outcomes are not meant to be playful, 72 00:03:59,056 --> 00:04:01,112 but our process is. 73 00:04:01,832 --> 00:04:05,229 To us, play is an act of resistance. 74 00:04:06,197 --> 00:04:10,656 For example, "Beat.," the project I talked about earlier, 75 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,902 is a concept developed by a drummer and a software engineer 76 00:04:14,926 --> 00:04:18,093 who didn't know each other two days before they pitched the idea. 77 00:04:19,165 --> 00:04:21,826 "Beat." is the first winner in our lab series 78 00:04:21,850 --> 00:04:26,039 where we pair artists and technologists to work on human rights issues. 79 00:04:26,775 --> 00:04:30,176 Other winning concepts include a pop-up bakery 80 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,509 that teaches about fake news through beautiful but horrible-tasting cupcakes -- 81 00:04:34,533 --> 00:04:37,387 (Laughter) 82 00:04:37,411 --> 00:04:41,277 or a board game that puts you in the shoes of a dictator 83 00:04:41,301 --> 00:04:45,691 so you get to really grasp the range of tools and tactics of oppression. 84 00:04:47,382 --> 00:04:50,645 We did our first lab just to test the idea, 85 00:04:50,669 --> 00:04:53,426 to see where it cracks and if we can make it better. 86 00:04:53,450 --> 00:04:56,704 Today, we are so in love with the format that we put it all online 87 00:04:56,728 --> 00:04:58,348 for anyone to implement. 88 00:04:59,148 --> 00:05:02,747 I cannot overstate the value of experimentation in activism. 89 00:05:03,312 --> 00:05:06,675 We can only win if we are not afraid to lose. 90 00:05:08,247 --> 00:05:10,892 When we play, we learn. 91 00:05:12,332 --> 00:05:14,971 A recent study published by Stanford University 92 00:05:14,995 --> 00:05:17,065 about the science of what makes people care 93 00:05:17,089 --> 00:05:20,269 reconfirms what we have been hearing for years: 94 00:05:20,293 --> 00:05:22,958 opinions are changed not from more information 95 00:05:22,982 --> 00:05:25,127 but through empathy-inducing experiences. 96 00:05:26,020 --> 00:05:28,818 So learning from science and art, 97 00:05:28,842 --> 00:05:34,120 we saw that we can talk about global armed conflict through light bulbs, 98 00:05:34,144 --> 00:05:37,001 or address racial inequality in the US 99 00:05:37,025 --> 00:05:38,487 through postcards, 100 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:43,917 or tackle the lack of even one single monument of a woman in Sofia 101 00:05:43,941 --> 00:05:46,045 by flooding the city with them, 102 00:05:46,655 --> 00:05:48,835 and, with all these works, 103 00:05:48,859 --> 00:05:52,277 to trigger dialogue, understanding and direct action. 104 00:05:54,534 --> 00:05:58,795 Sometimes, when I talk about taking risks and trying and failing 105 00:05:58,819 --> 00:06:00,590 in the context of human rights, 106 00:06:00,614 --> 00:06:02,947 I meet raised eyebrows, 107 00:06:03,639 --> 00:06:06,872 eyebrows that say, "How irresponsible," 108 00:06:06,896 --> 00:06:08,913 or, "How insensitive." 109 00:06:09,567 --> 00:06:13,294 People often mistake play for negligence. 110 00:06:13,318 --> 00:06:14,617 It is not. 111 00:06:16,218 --> 00:06:21,030 Play doesn't just grow our armies stronger or spark better ideas. 112 00:06:21,741 --> 00:06:24,172 In times of painful injustice, 113 00:06:24,196 --> 00:06:27,231 play brings the levity we need to be able to breathe. 114 00:06:27,850 --> 00:06:30,312 When we play, we live. 115 00:06:33,907 --> 00:06:36,208 I grew up in a time 116 00:06:36,232 --> 00:06:38,141 when all play was forbidden. 117 00:06:39,387 --> 00:06:42,659 My family's lives were crushed by a communist dictatorship. 118 00:06:43,923 --> 00:06:47,720 For my aunt, my grandfather, my father, 119 00:06:47,744 --> 00:06:50,217 we always held two funerals: 120 00:06:50,241 --> 00:06:51,617 one for their bodies, 121 00:06:51,641 --> 00:06:53,184 but, years before that, 122 00:06:53,208 --> 00:06:54,791 one for their dreams. 123 00:06:55,657 --> 00:06:59,394 Some of my biggest dreams are nightmares. 124 00:07:00,685 --> 00:07:04,959 I have a nightmare that one day all the past will be forgotten 125 00:07:04,983 --> 00:07:08,228 and new clothes will be dripping the blood of past mistakes. 126 00:07:09,546 --> 00:07:11,521 I have a nightmare 127 00:07:11,545 --> 00:07:15,025 that one day the lighthouses of our humanity will crumble, 128 00:07:15,049 --> 00:07:17,325 corroded by acid waves of hate. 129 00:07:18,301 --> 00:07:20,908 But way more than that, 130 00:07:20,932 --> 00:07:22,248 I have hope. 131 00:07:23,169 --> 00:07:25,485 In our fights for justice and freedom, 132 00:07:25,509 --> 00:07:27,181 I hope that we play, 133 00:07:28,205 --> 00:07:32,740 and that we see the joy and beauty of us playing together. 134 00:07:33,626 --> 00:07:35,023 That's how we win. 135 00:07:36,058 --> 00:07:37,285 Thank you. 136 00:07:37,858 --> 00:07:40,764 (Applause)