Activities
The following activities, both for the conference and the pre-conference, constitute different modalities through which presenters may generate diverse forms of contact and exchange with the audience. Each participant may adapt their presentation to the format they consider most appropriate, thus fostering dialogue, participation, and collective construction within our community.
Conference Activities
Activities may be presented in one of the following formats:
- Experiential Workshops (1 or 2 facilitators): active proposals for participants, addressing diverse topics and aiming to generate meaningful experiences.
- Symposium (three presenters): includes three speakers presenting their respective perspectives on a particular topic, in order to foster debate and audience participation.
- Interactive Presentations (1 or 2 facilitators): presentations focused on a particular topic, especially intended to foster exchange with the attending audience.
- Research Processes/Results (one main presenter in the case of a research team): presentation of ongoing research processes, as well as partial or final results, followed by a space for discussion with the audience.
Activities will have a maximum duration of two hours.
Pre-Conference Activities
- Experiential Workshop (1 or 2 facilitators)
Active proposals for participants, addressing diverse topics and aiming to generate meaningful experiences. - Advanced Study Course (1 or 2 facilitators)
Focused on a specific topic within the Gestalt approach, emphasizing presentation, in-depth exploration, and conceptual discussion. Practical activities may be included, although the primary focus is on theoretical development. - Training Session (1 or 2 facilitators)
Aimed at deepening a particular aspect of Gestalt practice, emphasizing the development and promotion of specific competencies. Theoretical content may be included, although the primary focus is on skills training.
Activities may have a maximum duration of four or eight hours.
THEMATIC AXES
The following thematic axes propose different paths of exploration within the spirit of the conference “Meeting in the South. Contact in the Global Gestalt Field.” They aim to open a space for reflection on contemporary developments in Gestalt Therapy, its practices, foundations, and challenges in today’s world, while fostering dialogue among diverse perspectives within the Gestalt field.
Thematic Axes
1. Encounter and Alterity: Intercultural Dialogues in the Global Gestalt Field
This axis invites exploration of how Gestalt Therapy transforms and is enriched through encounters among cultures, languages, histories, and territories. Contributions addressing the experience of contact in intercultural contexts, dialogues among different Gestalt traditions, and emerging contributions from diverse regions of the world are encouraged.
2. Contemporary Gestalt Practice: Experiences, Applications, and Innovations
This axis gathers contributions focused on current Gestalt Therapy practice across different contexts. It includes clinical explorations, group interventions, community processes, and applications in organizational, educational, social, or health settings, as well as methodological developments and innovations in practice, including the impact of digital technologies and artificial intelligence on processes of contact, learning, and support.
3. Thinking the Field: Theoretical Developments and Interdisciplinary Dialogues
This axis calls for reflections on the conceptual and philosophical foundations of Gestalt Therapy and its dialogues with other schools of thought. Contributions deepening notions such as field, contact, relational process, phenomenology, aesthetics, and ethics of practice are encouraged, as well as research and theoretical developments that contribute to the growth of the approach.
4. Gestalt and the Contemporary World: Social, Cultural, and Political Challenges
This axis proposes reflection on the place of Gestalt Therapy in a world shaped by profound social and cultural transformations. Participants are invited to share experiences and reflections on Gestalt work in its political dimension, particularly in contexts of crisis, inequality, migration, violence, social exclusion, and other phenomena impacting individual and collective life.
5. Body, Nature, and Art: Expanded Dimensions of Contact
This axis invites exploration of the relationships between bodily experience, the natural environment, and the existential dimensions of living. It includes work related to body practices, ecological awareness, artistic expression, spirituality, and approaches to understanding contact that integrate the relationship between individuals, communities, and their environment.
6. Training and Transmission: Present and Future of Gestalt Therapy
This axis invites reflection on processes of training, supervision, research, and transmission of the Gestalt approach across different contexts. Contributions exploring current challenges in teaching Gestalt, the development of professional communities, and possible future directions of the field are encouraged.
7. Open Axis: Diverse Contributions to the Gestalt Field
This axis is intended for contributions that, while maintaining a clear connection to Gestalt Therapy, address topics not explicitly included in the previous axes. Its purpose is to keep space open for new perspectives, explorations, and emerging developments within the Gestalt field.