The world is turned upside down, the streets are empty. Behind this seeming tranquility there is a storm raging through our values and structures. This gives us the space to think about a complete ‘reset’. How can we restructure existing dysfunctional systems? In this new series, we will showcase the perspectives of a variety of thought leaders who will reflect on this present-day situation. Through the lens of their own area of expertise and with an emphasis on the Creative Industry. The corona crisis is, without a doubt, a crisis that is leaving behind a trail of victims. But which transformations will we be left within the aftermath? During these times, it is the creatives who can visualise new scenarios and through hypothesising can develop new insights into our future.
Arne Hendriks
Arne Hendriks is an artist, researcher and exhibition maker based in Amsterdam. People sometimes call him a radical ecologist and although he likes the sound of that, he rather likes to say that he deliberately explores the borders of specific cultural values that define our relationship with the planet. He believes we should be more generous towards ourselves in allowing radical new ideas and practices into our relationship with the ecology. Some of his recent projects include The Incredible Shrinking Man which is an ongoing investigation on the possibilities and repercussions of physically downsising the human species, 8 Billion City, one city for all in 2032. Fatberg, the building of an island of fat on the waterfront of Amsterdam and Growth, An inquiry into our obsession with the accumulation of a factor. His artistic research residencies include The Hubrecht Institute and Rabobank. Hendriks is currently artist in residence at Wageningen University.
Rachel Armstrong
Rachel Armstrong is Professor of Experimental Architecture at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, University of Newcastle. She is a pioneer of living architecture, a new approach to building materials that explores how buildings can share some of the properties of natural systems, and works collaboratively across disciplines to build and develop prototypes that embody her approach. Rachel is the director and founder of Experimental Architecture Group and coordinates the Living Architecture Systems Group – a multidisciplinary research team investigating the subject. Rachel is widely published in both academic and popular press.
Architecture Talk - The practice of experimental architecture through living architecture is embracing a paradigm that is emerging…that paradigm shift is the transition from an industrial era of thought and design towards an emerging and undefined ecological era. >>
It'sNiceThat - Talking with architect Rachel Armstrong sends an adrenaline shot to the imagination. In one sentence, she will take you from quantum mechanics to Neo-Darwinian ethics to futuristic homes that gurgle like a stomach – all in the space of answering a single question. You leave the conversation dizzy with the future, and the world brims with new possibility around you. >>
