DesignTalks talks - What now? Episode 4: Let’s talk about stories
DesignTalks addresses the challenges the world is facing and highlights the importance of design and architecture in societal and global change. Creative thinking of the present could be the solution to the problems of the future.
In this fourth and last episode of DesignTalks talks podcast series called What now? the focus is on the role of storytelling as a powerful tool in design and change making, the importance of redefining systems for sustainability, cross-disciplinary collaborations.
Faced with a future that seems more uncertain, more open than ever we ask who’s going to create it? We explore alternative paths, the work of remarkable creatives at the forefront of positive change worldwide, storytelling across mediums as one of the most powerful tools of creative minds, and the entanglement of nature, technology and intellect. Can design help us benefit from advances in science and technology? Should we collaborate more with bacteria? Take control of the story, our future? Or just lay back and let the robots do it? What’s the importance of design in scientific, technological and biological inventions? Where do we stand today on that matter?
In this episode the host Anna Gyða Sigurgísladóttir, sits down with Natsai Audrey Chieza, bio-desinger, CEO and founder of Fabre Futures, Liam Young, Sci-fi architect, director and BAFTA nominated producer and Bergur Finnbogason, architect and creative director at CCP Games.
DesignTalks talks is a podcast based on the annual international conference DesignTalks in Reykjavík. The What now? series is inspired by the conference 2023 and supported by Nordic Talks. Hlín Helga Guðlaugsdóttir, designer is the curator of DesignTalks.
About:
Natsai Audrey Chieza, bio-desinger, CEO and founder of Fabre Futures.
Natsai Audrey Chieza is a leading thinker on the transformative role design can play in the equitable development of consumer biotechnology. With over ten years of experience co-developing multi-sector innovation strategies and shaping policy with global institutions, she leads a dynamic team that translates value and transforms systems across education, design, life science and manufacturing industries. Over a decade of experimentation, Chieza established novel design-driven processes and for bacteria textile colouration, which have been exhibited internationally, including at Ars Electronica, Design Museum, Pompidou Centre, Vitra Design Museum and the Science Gallery Dublin. Chieza is a member of the current session of the World Economic Forum's Global Futures Council on Synthetic Biology, contributing to the industry's roadmap for a world changed by COVID-19. A TED speaker, Chieza has given talks on transdisciplinary innovation, including at Design Indaba, SxSW, BoF, and Dezeen Day, and has taught on biodesign programmes at Central Saint Martins in London and the Bartlett School of Architecture. She was awarded the INDEX award in 2019 and is named on ICON Design 100 2019, Evening Standard Progress 1000 2019, It's Nice That Ones to Watch 2019, and OkayAfrica's 100 Women 2018.
Liam Young, Sci-fi architect, director and BAFTA nominated producer.
Young operates in the spaces between design, fiction and futures. Described by the BBC as ‘the man designing our futures’, his visionary films and speculative worlds are both extraordinary images of tomorrow and urgent examinations of the environmental questions facing us today. Young has been a pioneer and a leading figure within his field and affected a whole generation of architects. As a world builder he visualizes the cities, spaces and props of our imaginary futures for the film and television industry and with his own films he has premiered with platforms ranging from Channel 4, Apple+, SxSW, Tribeca, the New York Metropolitan Museum, The Royal Academy, Venice Biennale, the BBC and the Guardian. His films have been collected internationally by museums such as the New York Met, Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria and M Plus Hong Kong and has been acclaimed in both mainstream and design media including features with TED, Wired, New Scientist, Arte, Canal+, Time magazine and many more.
Bergur Finnbogason, architect and creative director at CCP Games.
Bergur holds a master’s degree in Architecture from the London Metropolitan University. He joined CCP in 2010 then later joined the EVE Online team in Reykjavík in 2014, first as a creative producer then as a development manager. Among other things Bergur was leading up the AI and was responsible for the Abyssal Deadspace. He also served as the Art Manager for EVE online and coordinated the citizen science project, Project Discovery.
Moderator:
Anna Gyða Sigurgísladóttir, Icelandic, Radio host and producer from Iceland.
After graduating from law in 2015, with a final essay in the field of jurisprudence about the rights of witches in 17th century Iceland, Anna Gyða co-created Lestin - a daily cultural program on Radio 1, National Broadcasting Service of Iceland (RÚV). She has since been hosting, producing and editing various podcasts and documentary series for radio and TV as well as shooting documentaries of her own and writing non-fiction essays. Most recently she edited and produced the podcast Björk: Sonic Symbolism (Mailchimp and Talkhouse production)
