Martin Guttridge-Hewitt’s conversation with Felix Denk & Sven Von Thulen, looking back at the roots of Berlin’s techno culture in the extraordinary time of open possibility that followed the fall of the wall.
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Future of Cities : Yesterday’s Tomorrows
Cities are often described as the nexus for economy, enlightenment, democracy, freedom and inscribed with transformative power for individuals, communities and society. At the same time, these positive aspects are in contrast to portrayals of hellish places full of fear, despair and imminent or post-apocalyptic situations.
‘A Visual History of the Future’, a report by Professor Nick Dunn, Dr Paul Cureton and Nicholas Francis examines how future cities have been visualised over the last 100 years, and considers what these depictions sought to communicate…
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Bringing the Trees back to the City…
“This is a kind of biological architecture that refuses to adopt a strictly technological and mechanical approach to environmental sustainability…”
Introduction to the idea of an urban Vertical Forest – >>
and a very snazzy computer-modelled promo video for the project here >>
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Post-Colonial Streets: Carnival in London
The annual Notting Hill Carnival in London has spanned the full spectrum of the post-colonial experience, from multicultural street parties to race riots and back again.
Josy Forsdike takes a photographic review of the early days >>
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Love in the Bullets
Syrian artist Tammam Azzam and his personal Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” on war-torn building in Syria.
Source : http://loves.domusweb.it/
The Politics of Long Fences
What is the human experience and consequence of Europe’s growing fortress tendency?
Powerful photographic document by Sergi Cámara on the heavily-militarised zone that is the border between Morocco, Africa and Spain, Europe.
View ->>
How Wolves Change Rivers
A project to re-introduce wolves into Yellowstone Park demonstrates the extraordinary interconnectedness of eco-systems.
The narrative to this film is an extract from George Monbiot’s Ted talk about rewilding
watch the full-length talk here >>
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Posted in Movement
Tagged with: Animals, Change, Ecology, Interconnection, Nature, Regeneration, Rivers, Transformation
Tagged with: Animals, Change, Ecology, Interconnection, Nature, Regeneration, Rivers, Transformation
Facing Up To Reality – and Activating The Great Turning
“It needs to be done in groups so we can hear it from each other. Then you realize that it gives a lie to the isolation we have been conditioned to experience in recent centuries, and especially by this hyper-individualist consumer society. People can graduate from their sense of isolation, into a realization of their inter-existence with all.” Interview with deep ecologist, elder and activist inspiration, Joanna Macy
The Climate Change Blues
Perhaps one of the reasons humanity is struggling to take action over climate change is that the scale of the problem is so vast, we are still dealing with the emotional shock of hearing the news. Madeleine Thomas writes about the psychological challenges faced by climate scientists on the frontline of documenting the destructive ecological impact of climate change.
Read the article here >>
[Illustration by Amelia Bates]
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The Abandoned Airport in Congo that Became a Playground
Note to the future: what do we do with the mess of disused airports full of broken old aeroplanes in war-torn lands? Ask the children! Article by Chris Guillebeau on Michael Christopher Brown’s images from Congo.
Read & View the article >>
View the images in Michael’s portfolio >>
Shamanism and the Transformative Power of Drum Meditation
All around the world, indigenous and traditional cultures have used rhythm as both the catalyst and container for the transformation of consciousness. Introduction to shamanism and the power of the drum by Gary McGee.Read >>
More Panels, Less Gadgets?
The impending doom of billions of Indian and Chinese carbon consumers is often used by climate-action stallers as a kind of “what’s the point of cutting our emissions with this coming?” Another perspective is that there might be an effective future in the middle-ground between developing-world communities using renewable energy on the one hand – and on the other, the developed-world learning a few lessons on living with “less stuff to plug in”…
Read the article by the aptly-named John Light >>>
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The Poverty Trap – and the Gilded Cages.
Complex, humanitarian and moving, Jim Goldberg’s seminal work overlays photographs with handwritten words – and interrogates the psychological as well as economic effects of wealth disparity. Read >>
“It’s Always a Spiritual Thing…”
“It’s always a spiritual thing…” – DJ Deep speaking about Techno, the genre he has embraced after many years as a respected figure playing and producing soulful deep house.
Take a nocturnal journey into a Parisian warehouse rave with this deep, driving live mix from the underground…
Land & Freedom – Low-Impact Building in Spain
Stories from the forgotten zones of inland Spain where people are unfazed by the apparent obstacles to sustainable living and just getting on with it… article by Robert Alcock.
Read >>
Phantom Shanghai
Atmospheric documents of massive urban transformation in China by Greg Girard
View >>
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Dodging the Censors in China – with Evernote
Whilst Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter are under strict censorship, Internet users in China are circulating news on the protests in Hong Kong by copying and pasting articles into notes that can be shared as webpages or put into “notebooks” that users can subscribe to. Report by Lily Kuo and Ning Hui.
Still Free – Tagging Airforce One
Tagging meets film production to make a multi-layered statement…
Watch the video and then click here for the full story
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Legal Language, Beats & the Resistance Impulse
“Music characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats” …probably the only phrase from the legal statute to have been memorised by large numbers of people off their heads on drugs… The trigger for a lively protest movement 20 years ago was Section 63 of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act and its mission to criminalise free parties.
Read more >>
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Lateral Structures, the Evolution of Organisation & Wirearchy
“Hierarchical organizational forms have been the norm through much of history, especially the last 2,000 years. Lateral organizations, or more egalitarian structures, have been the exception.” Change Agent Harold Jarche looks at David Ronfeldt’s TIMN framework for organisational evolution. (Tribal, Institutional, Market, Network)
Postcards from Babylon
Live Lockdown Stream
27-5-20
20h London time
Audiophile hi-quality Stream:
http://postcardsfrombabylon.net:8000/stream
(live from 8pm)
Zoom Virtual Cinema:
Meeting ID: 838 0351 2701
Password: liberation
Facebook Live:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1597564133736100/
The PfB project predates the pandemic but touches on many of the questions, problems and potential solutions that Covid-19 and the global lockdown have brought to the surface. So we're offering a free live stream of the 55-minute soundtrack, taking a journey from the streets to the forests, from the financial system to house music clubs, and from anarchist protests to Zen meditation temples.
It's a personal narrative designed to evoke and carry the listener's own existential enquiry. The album was premiered to a packed Ritzy cinema in Brixton, London last year, to overwhelmingly positive response.
We'll be streaming on Zoom, Facebook Live and via a high-quality audio-only stream. Christian and Alex will give a short introduction to the project before we take the journey together. Afterwards there will be an opportunity to hang out for Q&As, reflections and integration.
During the stream, we recommend you sit or lie back in a darkened space with the highest-quality speakers or headphones you have access to. This is an imaginal audio experience for your co-creative engagement!
