DesignTO invites designers and thinkers to an online Drift moderated by Judith van den Boom, designer and course leader of MA Regenerative Design at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London), to explore design responses to the climate crisis. This event focuses on how we can create whole systems that foster more restorative, regenerative, and relational practices and partnerships. At a time when the future of life on this planet is more uncertain than ever, the urgency of exploring alternative ways of learning, exchanging, and building narratives is pivotal.
The aim is to connect a network of North American practices that focus on ecology and design/art collaboration, and we invited a group of practices coming from different perspectives to share practice. The session will allow also for the online audience to engage and share their interest and see how new meetings and networks evolve from there. We hope to see more North American practitioners in the audience that connect for regenerative network building / collaborating.
Six guests who will present their perspectives in 10-minute provocations and we take time to talk with the joining audience.
Ranee Lee: prof OCAD University Toronto and founder of DESIGNwith
Jessica Riquetti: Systems ecologist and outerwear designer British Columbia
Vanessa Mardirossian: Textile and fashion designer and researcher Concordia University in Montreal
Emily Luce Rodney Sayers, C.R.A.F.T.: Indigenous-led practices Vancouver Island
Parsons & Charlesworth: Multispecies practices and regenerative futures, Chicago
Our ecosystems, communities, and practices are not static but are continuously evolving networks. Similarly, the narratives that shape how we understand being part of a whole are dynamic. We are networks within networks, layered with diverse cosmologies and processes that constitute life. Regeneration, by definition, is a life system and ecological process that is intrinsic to ecosystems and economies. By shifting the focus on designing for the profit of the planet, we can explore what it truly means to co-thrive. Making a positive impact on the planet translates into a positive impact on our own lives and the lives of future generations. Being human is a process of continuous, interwoven relational knowing—spanning from the macro- to the micro-biome, and intimately connected to time, cycles, and seasons. Yet, the rich diversity of learning and perspectives has become scarce within the universal systems that shape our practices and communities.
In ecology, the idea that “nothing stands on its own” reflects the fundamental principle of interdependence within ecosystems. But what does this mean for how we design? How do we enable new languages and examples of thriving as a connected community? What is involved in developing collaborative partnerships that bridge knowledge, methods, and approaches between design and ecology? And how can we work in a more place-based way, guided by the wisdom and needs of places, species, and communities?
The Drift is a method for connecting a situated network beyond the physical spaces of the DesignTO Festival, hosting a mindful session that draws on diverse ways of knowing and doing. The Drift invites a small group of practitioners to share short provocations that stimulate new translations and relationships, contributing to the richness of how we understand being and designing regenerative worlds, including the languages, processes, and ethics that should be considered when working regeneratively. We will be listening to short provocations and responses on this subject and open the dialogue with the online public to form entanglements that support the work that is taking place across several countries.