SBYD SESSION #1

6 – 9 p.m.

Sanaa-Gebäude,
Zeche Zollverein
Gelsenkirchener Straße 209
45309 Essen

To celebrate the official launch of SBYD.SPACE, we invited four guests from different backgrounds to the SANAA building for an evening of online talks, snacks, and social exchange. With the intention to create a space for dialogue, the event was open to the public and included a final panel discussion, in which viewers and listeners were able to exchange thoughts with the speakers in person or online.

PROF. DR. GERHARD REESE is a researcher and educator on the topic of sustainability and mental health at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau.

LECTURE TITLE: »Psychological and systemic conditions for sustainable action«

How can design promote sustainability, Prof. Reese?

»Design can promote sustainability if it simplifies climate-friendly behaviour and makes it fairly accessible to all people. Design does not have to mean producing something new over and over again, but rather upgrading the existing!«

Are there projects that inspire you?

»I am inspired above all by works that contribute to using even fewer resources. If they also look good and are functional and functional, it‘s a win-win situation for everyone.«

JASMIN GRIMM is a festival organiser and artistic director of the »new now« Festival, that takes place bi-annually at the Unesco World Heritage Site Zeche Zollverein in Essen.

LECTURE TITLE: »Welcome to Hypernature«

Jasmin Grimm, how can design promote sustainability?

»Design can give us a new look at our environment by developing aesthetic practices that question and reshape our concept of nature and our relationship with it.«

Which projects inspire you in this regard?

»Art has the transformative power to combine critical thinking with ecological and social responsibility. I found the work ‘Time Tunnel’ by Pinar Yoldas particularly impressive, in which the artist took us on a journey 320 million years back in time in the middle of a coking plant chimney, in which fossil fuels were created. And it was noticeable how quickly they burn these days.«

D-O-T-S is a nomadic curatorial practice, currently working as researchers and curators in the field of design.
In their projects – exhibitions, publications, workshops… – they try to propose narratives that go beyond the status quo and that offer critical perspectives on pressing societal and environmental issues. d-o-t-s is Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts.

LECTURE TITLE: »Design and the Plants’ Learnings«

Laura and Olivier, how can design promote sustainability?

»We don’t believe that design can save the world. On the contrary, being inherently connected to extractivism, overproduction and consumerism, design is one of the major causes of the problems the Earth faces today. The only way it can participate in promoting resilience is by favouring pluricultural, multispecific and DIY futures.«

Which projects inspire you?

»The work of people who operate outside of the design bubble (or at its periphery) and who are deeply rooted in a specific landscape – understanding and respecting its populations (both humans and other-than- humans), its multispecific relationships, its seasonality, and its small-scale economies.«

MAJA KOLAR is one of the creative leads, a design researcher and a manager of »Made in Platform for Contemporary Crafts and Design« whose aim is to highlight new material research approaches and other design processes related to topics like the exploitation of natural materials and its regenerative potentials, with a particular focus on models of sustainable production.

LECTURE TITLE: »Collaborative (small) acts«

How can design promote sustainability, Maja?

»Crafts and Design have the potential to play a unique role in the transition to
alternative production models that rely primarily on local resources and skills. Alongside encouraging the re-use/repair of existing products, crafts promotes slower, more responsible consumption, and creates a value system that transcends the omni-present logic of global mass production.«

Are there projects that inspire you?

»A whole new generation of designers and environmentalists that are turning their attention to diverse cultures of making by taking a place-based approach, working on specific localities and reflecting on particular micro-contexts. To list a few of many former Made in alumni: Superlocal 0 miles production, Unfold studio, Mischer’Traxler studio, S-P-O-K initiative, Chmara.Rosinke studio, Henriette Waal.«