#10 WATER&THE CITY
Devices for action in the water age
Why the talk is inspiring?
The talk will discuss idea-scenarios grounded in an interest to render agencies that move towards the “civic and environmental” forms that play in mitigating the hazards of industrialization and developing a more sustainable human environment. Drawing inspiration from hypothetical Water Age and being informed by the M.I.T. developed cybernetic discourse of self-regulation, feedback loops, and homeostasis, this talk would inquire the links between art and technology and the potential for designers to collaborate with scientists and engineers to create (according to Kepes) “ecological feedback machines that work toward resolving the problem of man’s relations with his surroundings.”
2013
Speaker
prof. Gediminas Urbonas
How the speaker is exceptional?
Gediminas Urbonas is artist and educator, and co-founder (with Nomeda Urbonas) of Urbonas Studio – the interdisciplinary research program that advocates for the reclamation of public space, stimulating cultural and political imagination as tools for social change. Urbonas have established international reputation for socially interactive and interdisciplinary practice exploring the conflicts and contradictions posed by the economic, social, and political conditions of countries in transition. Their work was awarded a number of high level prizes, including the Lithuanian National Prize (2007); a Prize for the Best International Artist at the Gwangju Biennale (2006), nomination for the Nam June Paik Award (2012), and the Special Prize for the best national pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2007).
RECOMMENDS TO READ
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad
Why the book is worth reading?
To develop deeper understanding of loss of public space today one has to dig into the Heart of Darkness, that interrogates human-nature relationships distorted by the ceaseless expansion of industrialization and imperialism.
