Global Lecture Series: Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism by Julia Watson
23 February 2023 - In order to stop and eventually reverse the effects of climate change, we must embrace ancient knowledge and work in symbiosis with our environments.
Contemporary designers understand the urgency of reducing humanity’s negative environmental impact, yet most perpetuate a dependence upon of technology that relies upon the exploitation of nature. The justification of this has been the confluence of humanism, colonialism, and racism, which allowed the intellectuals of the European Enlightenment to construct a mythology of technology that ignored local wisdom and indigenous innovation, deeming it primitive. Lo–TEK, derived from Traditional Ecological Knowledge, is a cumulative body of multigenerational knowledge, practices, and beliefs, countering the idea that indigenous innovation is primitive and exists isolated in technology. It is sophisticated and designed to work sustainably with complex ecosystem.
Speakers
• external pageJulia Watson
• external pageCatherine De Wolf
• Chris Luebkeman (moderator)
Programme
17.00 Door opens
17.30 Introduction by Chris Luebkeman, Head Foresight, Office of the President
17.35 Global Lecture: Lo—TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism
18.15 Q&A
18.25 Closing remarks
18.30 End, followed by a reception in the HG Audimax Foyer
19.30 Close
Registration required external pagehere. This lecture is in English.
Julia Watson
Working at the intersection of anthropology, ecology, innovation as an eponymously named design studio. Julia partners with experts to provide a full service design team landscape & urban design studio specializing in rewilding for people and place.
Working for Fortune 500 companies to align their missions with global sustainability goals, Julia collaborates to design and implement systemic change within Sustainability, Innovation & Futures sectors.
Lecturing at Harvard, Columbia and other universities for over a decade on her expertise in designing for sustainability, climate resilience and nature-based technology. Julia's spoken for TED 2020, NIKE, Accenture, The Long Now, Time Sensitive and more.
Catherine De Wolf
As Assistant Professor of Circular Engineering for Architecture at the ETH Zurich, Prof. Catherine De Wolf is conducting research on digital innovation towards a circular built environment. She is the director of the Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture (CEA) at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering. Catherine also co-founded several companies and labs, such as Anku and the DiCE lab. She is a member of the board of Switzerland Innovation Park Central and the reuse association Cirkla. Next to this, she is a faculty member of the AI Center at ETH Zurich. Moreover, she is on the Steering Committee of the Centre for Augmented Computational Design in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, also known as Design++. Finally, she is also a PI in the National Centre of Competence in Research on Digital Fabrication (DFAB).
Dr. Chris Luebkeman is the leader of the Strategic Foresight Hub in the Office of the President at ETH Zurich. This recently establish Hub is a team which engages a broad range of stakeholders concerning future focused drivers of change. His multidisciplinary education ranges from geology, civil engineering, structural engineering, entrepreneurship and a Doctorate in Architecture. His journey included Vanderbilt, Cornell and the ETH Zurich. He became an academic gypsy teaching Studios on Design and courses on Technology at the University of Oregon, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and at the MIT. He joined the global engineering consultancy Arup in London to lead the Research and Development group in 1999.