Exploring what makes up our Storyworlds and the phenomenon of Narrative Transportation.
Introduction
Narrative transportation—the feeling of being lost in a story—has been popular throughout history as a form of escapism. Using story and imagination, we can travel the world and beyond: to imagined cities, distant planets, alternate futures, and ancient pasts. We can also step into the minds and lives of others. “Transportation involves cognition, emotion, and mental imagery, all focused on the story.”¹
Our storyworlds, described in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory as “the ecology of narrative interpretation,”² are the imaginative spaces we inhabit when we enter a narrative. These worlds are shaped by memory, emotion, culture, environment—and increasingly, by the tools we use to tell them.
The aim of The Storyworld Project is to explore the infinite unique storyworlds created each time someone imaginatively travels to a narrative space. What exists in these spaces could help us open new ways of seeing each other and the places we share. Can storyworlds facilitate meaningful collaborations and connections for collective co-design in the face of a rapidly changing world?
Bringing together design, storytelling, and participatory practice, this project investigates how narrative might shape not just meaning, but action—especially in times of uncertainty and change.
We invite you to reflect on the stories that shape you, the storyworlds you move through, and the ones we might create together.
Our storyworlds, described in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory as “the ecology of narrative interpretation,”² are the imaginative spaces we inhabit when we enter a narrative. These worlds are shaped by memory, emotion, culture, environment—and increasingly, by the tools we use to tell them.
The aim of The Storyworld Project is to explore the infinite unique storyworlds created each time someone imaginatively travels to a narrative space. What exists in these spaces could help us open new ways of seeing each other and the places we share. Can storyworlds facilitate meaningful collaborations and connections for collective co-design in the face of a rapidly changing world?
Bringing together design, storytelling, and participatory practice, this project investigates how narrative might shape not just meaning, but action—especially in times of uncertainty and change.
We invite you to reflect on the stories that shape you, the storyworlds you move through, and the ones we might create together.
This Unfinished World
The latest chapter of The Storyworld Project—an evolving exploration of place, memory, and imagination. It brings together personal stories, images, and emerging technologies to speculate on the future of familiar environments.
How might storyworlds help us reflect, reimagine, and co-design in a rapidly changing world?
︎︎︎ Find out more
How might storyworlds help us reflect, reimagine, and co-design in a rapidly changing world?
︎︎︎ Find out more
Past Exhibitions
The Storyworld Project held it’s inaugural exhibition at Libreria Bookshop in Shoreditch, London opening from the 29th March – 10th April 2022.
The exhibition featured a diverse group of artists and creatives from around the world who read the story All at One Point by Italo Calvino and responded by externalising a visualisation of their storyworld.
The exhibition invited visitors to read the story, creating their own storyworld, before exploring the different ways in which others have imagined the same story.
︎︎︎ View photos and footage from the exhibition held at Libreria Bookshop here
︎︎︎ View the diverse range of contributed storyworlds visualisations based on the story All at One Point
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The Storyworld Project Opening Night — Photography by Lucy Pullicino
The exhibition featured a diverse group of artists and creatives from around the world who read the story All at One Point by Italo Calvino and responded by externalising a visualisation of their storyworld.
The exhibition invited visitors to read the story, creating their own storyworld, before exploring the different ways in which others have imagined the same story.
︎︎︎ View photos and footage from the exhibition held at Libreria Bookshop here
︎︎︎ View the diverse range of contributed storyworlds visualisations based on the story All at One Point
The Storyworld Project Opening Night — Photography by Lucy PullicinoProject Aims
The Storyworld Project focuses on the active role our brains and imaginations have in the construction and processing of narrative worlds. When interpreting a story, we fill in the gaps in texts with our own knowledge and experience. Actants, symbols and dialogues can all mean different things to different people, and affect people in different ways. The Storyworld Project aims to open our minds to the individuality of narrative interpretation, to bolster the importance of diverse creative collaborations, allowing for different perspectives in creative storytelling.