executive summary
The Politics of Perception is an extraordinarily visionary, impressive, promising and timely undertaking. — RICHARD FALK Emeritus Professor of International Law, Princeton University.
This is an amazing project. I hope it will open the 'doors of perception’. I wish you good luck and great success. — SATISH KUMAR Editor, Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. London.
Geneva, city of the Red Cross and the United Nations, needs perspectives for the planetary transition; this project provides an invaluable source of fresh, visionary ideas to that end. — GUILLAUME CHÈNEVIÈRE Author, Rousseau, une histoire genevoise. Former Director, RTS TV network. Geneva.
This is a big deal. — ROBERT THURMAN Author, Inner Revolution. Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia University. New York.
This seems to be an important project! — EDGAR MORIN Director of Research Emeritus, CNRS National Centre of Scientific Research. UNESCO Chair of Complex Thought. Paris.
Dynamic idea, with trustworthy participants - we need to help make this a reality!— NANCY ROOFEditor, Kosmos journal. USA.
This is an amazing project. I hope it will open the 'doors of perception’. I wish you good luck and great success. — SATISH KUMAR Editor, Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. London.
Geneva, city of the Red Cross and the United Nations, needs perspectives for the planetary transition; this project provides an invaluable source of fresh, visionary ideas to that end. — GUILLAUME CHÈNEVIÈRE Author, Rousseau, une histoire genevoise. Former Director, RTS TV network. Geneva.
This is a big deal. — ROBERT THURMAN Author, Inner Revolution. Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia University. New York.
This seems to be an important project! — EDGAR MORIN Director of Research Emeritus, CNRS National Centre of Scientific Research. UNESCO Chair of Complex Thought. Paris.
Dynamic idea, with trustworthy participants - we need to help make this a reality!— NANCY ROOFEditor, Kosmos journal. USA.
THE POLITICS OF PERCEPTION is a artistic documentary feature film now in development by Global Vision Foundation and the information-artist Michael O’Callaghan to catalyse critical thinking about the global meta-crisis (the complex tangle of catastrophic and existential risks that threaten our common future. Resource depletion, climate chaos, mass migration, biodiversity collapse, exponential tech like synbio & AI, economic turbulence and polarisation) portend the end of liberty, democracy, human rights and civilisation in our lifetime. The film will show that these are symptoms of a systemic cognitive dysfunction in which we all play a part. The emergent global civil society consensus is calling for creative system change towards a democratic, resilient, equitable and regenerative planetary future. But this scenario is blocked by multi-polar traps and conflicts of interest —between nations, corporations and citizens— that are perceived as insurmountable. Overcoming this blockage requires collective planetary sense-making based on responsible perception. The first step is to activate our capacity to distinguish knowledge from opinion.
This small step for the individual would be an evolutionary leap for Humankind. It’s easy to learn, it’s empowering and it’s the most consequential systemic action we all can do to make a difference. Perception is a political act!
Principal photography will take place at Global Vision Geneva, a historic 4-day special event designed as the live set for the film, which we plan to convene on 19-22 April 2025 as part of the worldwide Earth Day celebration. The event includes a high-level trans-disciplinary multi-stakeholder conference with a curated VIP lineup of global leaders, visionary thinkers, artists & A-list celebrities —framed by art, science, and a short play that transforms the participants into the protagonists of the global drama. This artistic mise-en-scène is conceived as an open-ended convivial happening or situation to engage a selected group of the world’s most powerful and/or visionary progressive & conservative planetary stakeholders, and provide them with a safe, fun and intellectually challenging psycho-social opportunity to temporarily suspend their contradictory assumptions and biases, reconsider their divergent and rival views, think outside the box, and engage in a rigorous dialectical process of collective sense-making. The aim is to explore the unchartered possibility space for rapid creative system change, based on critical thinking, reciprocal respect, compassion and mutual learning. Possible outcomes include the emergence of unforeseen synergistic strategies to overcome the lack of imagination that prevents us from charting a realistic path for human survival in a planetary future. The film will weave the story of this historic event into a dramatic metaphor that situates the observer/viewer at the heart of a new global narrative.
Geneva: potential cradle of a global Renaissance
The film’s story takes place at Geneva, the de facto hub of global governance where the planetary meridians of politics, trade, finance and civil society intersect. The Global Vision Geneva event (i.e. the live set for the film) is designed to leverage the unique savoir-faire of Geneva’s international community, and catalyse its untapped potential to help imagine, concretise, fund & implement the transition to a viable future before it is too late. The event will be live-streamed in April 2025 during the annual Earth Day celebration which mobilises over 1 billion participants and 77,000 organisations in 193 countries. This will generate social media attention ahead of the expected film release in late 2025. This project is produced by Global Vision Foundation, a small international public interest non-profit organisation established by O'Callaghan in Geneva in 2012 in collaboration with a transdisciplinary network of complex systems thinkers around the world. We have completed the first phase of the project development, including the conceptual design, R&D, feasibility study & business plan, and have already secured the interest of 18 prospective partners. We are now inviting these & other organisations, leading thinkers, artists, VIPs, celebrities and funders to collaborate in finalising the development of this project before we go into production. Please note that this is a participatory learning adventure: we are creating our journey as we go, as the Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez put it, by laying down a path while walking.
Principal photography will take place at Global Vision Geneva, a historic 4-day special event designed as the live set for the film, which we plan to convene on 19-22 April 2025 as part of the worldwide Earth Day celebration. The event includes a high-level trans-disciplinary multi-stakeholder conference with a curated VIP lineup of global leaders, visionary thinkers, artists & A-list celebrities —framed by art, science, and a short play that transforms the participants into the protagonists of the global drama. This artistic mise-en-scène is conceived as an open-ended convivial happening or situation to engage a selected group of the world’s most powerful and/or visionary progressive & conservative planetary stakeholders, and provide them with a safe, fun and intellectually challenging psycho-social opportunity to temporarily suspend their contradictory assumptions and biases, reconsider their divergent and rival views, think outside the box, and engage in a rigorous dialectical process of collective sense-making. The aim is to explore the unchartered possibility space for rapid creative system change, based on critical thinking, reciprocal respect, compassion and mutual learning. Possible outcomes include the emergence of unforeseen synergistic strategies to overcome the lack of imagination that prevents us from charting a realistic path for human survival in a planetary future. The film will weave the story of this historic event into a dramatic metaphor that situates the observer/viewer at the heart of a new global narrative.
Geneva: potential cradle of a global Renaissance
The film’s story takes place at Geneva, the de facto hub of global governance where the planetary meridians of politics, trade, finance and civil society intersect. The Global Vision Geneva event (i.e. the live set for the film) is designed to leverage the unique savoir-faire of Geneva’s international community, and catalyse its untapped potential to help imagine, concretise, fund & implement the transition to a viable future before it is too late. The event will be live-streamed in April 2025 during the annual Earth Day celebration which mobilises over 1 billion participants and 77,000 organisations in 193 countries. This will generate social media attention ahead of the expected film release in late 2025. This project is produced by Global Vision Foundation, a small international public interest non-profit organisation established by O'Callaghan in Geneva in 2012 in collaboration with a transdisciplinary network of complex systems thinkers around the world. We have completed the first phase of the project development, including the conceptual design, R&D, feasibility study & business plan, and have already secured the interest of 18 prospective partners. We are now inviting these & other organisations, leading thinkers, artists, VIPs, celebrities and funders to collaborate in finalising the development of this project before we go into production. Please note that this is a participatory learning adventure: we are creating our journey as we go, as the Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez put it, by laying down a path while walking.
- STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
- • Promote responsible perception as the heart of a new global narrative that empowers everyone to make a difference.
- • Engage key planetary stakeholders in collective sensemaking to finance and implement rapid creative system change.
- • Position Geneva as the potential cradle of a 21st century global Renaissance.
- DELIVERABLES
- • Global Vision Geneva: high-level multi-stakeholder conference + art exhibit + theatre + science infographics.
- • The Politics of Perception: artistic cinéma vérité feature film with VIP lineup, for streaming & cinema release (90-100 min.)
- • Multimedia: book • videos • web • social media • (+ possible educational MOOC & follow-up TV mini-series).
- WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE
- Planetary stakeholders including NGOs, scientists, media, UN & international agencies, TNCs (finance, energy, infotech, trade, mobility, construction, agri, pharma, insurance etc.), universities, think tanks, intelligence agencies, donors, indigenous peoples, global teenagers, mainstream media and journalists. 18 prospective partners confirmed.
- TIMELINE
- Special event + film shoot target date during Earth Day week from 19-22 April 2025. Film release 6 months later.
- TARGET AUDIENCE & DISTRIBUTION
- High level policy makers • generations Z & Alpha • 1.24 billion global teenager cohort • general public. Up to 2,000 participants on site for the special event & many more in a livestream partnership with Earth Day International. Promotion for cinema release, TV broadcast & streaming via the European Broadcasting Union, film festivals & markets, UN/NGO/corporate partners, social media and participating journalists.
- DONATE
- Estimated cost: CHF 2.8m. This provides a world-class sponsorship opportunity for donors and sponsors worthy of recognition as real planetary leaders. Our Swiss company ID is CHE-443.285.190 . Contributions may be tax deductible in Switzerland.
- Bank account for donations and sponsorship:
- Global Vision Foundation,
- PostFinance account no 14-465554-2
- IBAN: CH93 0900 0000 1446 5554 2
- MORE INFO
- A confidential brochure is available for prospective partners, sponsors and donors on a need-to-know basis .
- CONTACT
- Michael O’Callaghan
- Director
- Global Vision Foundation
- c/o Byrne-Sutton, Bollen & Kern
- 45 Rue Agasse
- CH-1208 Geneva, Switzerland
- www.global-vision-foundation.org
- moc@global-vision-foundation.org
- tel: + 41 79 302 2850