Circular Cultures: Topographies of Waste

They will explore sustainable urban practices while showcasing important city design projects that serve communities while promoting equity and social justice. Having as a starting point our rapidly expanding city — our land — the program will focus on waste management through the spectrum of food and nature production and highlight the correlation between consumption and making or creating.

“Topographies of Waste” will examine different waste management systems and suggest design solutions to the visible environmental and social challenges that waste creates. It will showcase networks and initiatives that promote resilience and boost social capital by raising awareness around the climate emergency and the impact on the city.

Τhe British Council and Onassis Stegi present a two-day program comprising of an online conference on the first day, with keynotes and panel discussions and the second day is dedicated to digital & interactive face-to-face workshops and masterclasses.Circular Cultures aims to engage with artists, designers, urban planners, makers and the general public in making their cities more sustainable and foster interdisciplinary, holistic strategies to promote urban resilience by raising awareness and helping people learn new skills.

Register for the conference online

Conference Agenda

Thursday, 3 March 2022 | 14:00 – 19:00 | 12:00 – 17:00 (GMT)

14:00 – 16:00 | Water Ecologies

Hosted by Maria Papaioannou, Head of Arts at the British Council in Greece

14:00 – 14:15 | Welcome Remarks

14:15 – 14:20 | Scene Setting by Parvinder Marwaha, Program Manager for Architecture Design Fashion at the British Council

14:20 – 14:40 | Keynote by Mariana Pestana, Co-founder and Director of The Decorators, Curator of the 5th Istanbul Design Biennial

14:40 – 14:55 | Provocation by:

Jane Withers, Design consultant, Curator and Writer
Dr. Naho Mirumachi, Associate Professor in Environmental Politics at King’s College London

14:55 – 15:15 | Keynote by Eleni Myrivili, Consultant on Resilience and Climate Change for the City of Athens and Arsht-Rock Resilience Center (Atlantic Council)

15:15 – 15:40 | “Pipe dreams” panel discussion moderated by Parvinder Marwaha, Program Manager for Architecture Design Fashion at the British Council

Monish Siripurapu, Founder of Ant Studio
Elissa Brunato, Co-founder of AusBlau Studio

15:40 – 15:55 | Intervention – keynote by Apostolos Korkolis, Quality Control Lab Manager, Polyeco S.A.

15:55 – 16:00 | Video Break

16:00 – 17:20 | Food Waste

Hosted by Prodromos Tsiavos, Head of Digital and Innovation, Onassis Foundation

16:00 – 16:05 | Scene Setting by Parvinder Marwaha

16:05 – 16:25 | Keynote by Lydia Kallipoliti, Assistant Professor at The Cooper Union

16:25 – 16:45 | Keynote by Vicky Barboka, Food Officer, WWF Greece

16:45 – 17:20 | Panel Discussion moderated by Kika Kiriakakou, Artistic Director of PCAI

Vicky Barboka, Food Officer, WWF Greece
Karishma Rafferty, Festival Programmer at Kew Gardens
Katerina Zachou, Associate Curator, Biennale of Western Balkans

17:20 – 17:30 | Intervention by Christos Carras, Executive Director, Onassis Stegi

17:30 – 17:35 | Break

17:35 – 18:50 | Circular By Design

Hosted by Seth and Akil Scaffe Smith, Directors of RESOLVE Collective

Designers in dialogue:

Christiana Vardakou, Textile Designer
Eva Grigoriadou, Head of Research and Educational Programmes, Urbana
Mara Angelidou, Director, InCommOn
Imandeep Kaur, Co-founder and Director of Civic Square
Joel De Mowbray and Morgan Da Silva, Directors at Yes Make
Alix Bizet, Material Researcher, Designer and Educator

18:50 – 19:00 | Thank you notes

Can you design your trash?

They are invisible in our minds, yet present in our lives.

We regard the objects that surround us as existent for as long as we use them, but we forget that they continue to exist and—probably—to pollute for a much longer time after they leave our homes and workplaces. We give thought to the design of a house, a piece of furniture or a garment, but we ignore their lives when we no longer use them.

What would happen if we took the design of our waste and trash as seriously as we take the design of an everyday item or an aesthetic object? Can we think of our clothes, food or coffee focusing on the water they consume or the soil they pollute? How can digital technology help us with all this, what are the politics and ethics of circular economy, and what does it mean to be able to reuse parts of devices, clothes, and objects after their original use?

The fourth year of collaboration between Onassis Stegi and the British Council for Circular Cultures, under the title “Topographies of Waste,” revolves around one question: What does it mean to “design our trash”? We seek environmental justice and observe how the practices of circular economy bring about another kind of design, more political, more inclusive, and, ultimately, more humane.

The event Circular Cultures – “Topographies of Waste” is part of Onassis Stegi’s wider initiatives to support and promote climate and environmental justice, as a key aspect of cultural activity, and also as central to the design and use of digital technologies and to enhancing innovation. It is directly related to the Onassis Foundation educational actions, especially in the context of Science Technology and Arts (STARTS), which features a circular economy and digital technologies program, its digital actions for schools, as well as to its energies that support technology transfer and innovation, mostly through the production of relevant works of extended and virtual reality at the ONX accelerator of Onassis USA.
—Prodromos Tsiavos

Workshops / Masterclass | Program

Friday 4 March 2022 | 11:00 – 16:00

11:00–12:30 | WWF: Let’s… eat for change!

13:00–14:30 | CO3(6)5: Can our food waste be used for something useful and propagate a circular economy?

15:00–16:00 | Platforming Social Infrastructure through Local Design

About Circular Cultures

Circular Cultures is a new British Council sustainable design and creative economies program in EU Europe, which aims to promote greater awareness around sustainable design, circularity, and making cultures. It aims to embed a more critical dialogue around design and circularity, develop the skills and knowledge of creative leaders, and create new EU networks around sustainability and circularity.In Greece, Circular Cultures is organized in collaboration with Onassis Stegi and is an integral part of the broader collaboration between the British Council and the Onassis Foundation aimed at the development of an ongoing and action-oriented public space for ethical crafts, circular design, materials and fashion sustainability.

Circular Cultures is part of the British Council global program Making Matters, which aims to foster a global dialogue around the topic of circular design. The multidisciplinary program explores how principles of the circular economy can be a catalyst for creativity, collaboration, and regenerative thinking within architecture, design, and fashion practice.

Credits

Program Management
Maria Papaioannou (British Council Greece), Prodromos Tsiavos (Onassis Foundation)
Webinar platform coordination
Heracles Papatheodorou (Onassis Stegi)
Production Management
Katerina Galani (British Council), Ioanna Margariti (Onassis Stegi)
UK Advisor on Architecture, Design and Fashion
Parvinder Marwaha (British Council)

The conference is in collaboration with the British Embassy in Athens and supported by PCAI

The interpretation services in Greek sign language are supported by Onassis Stegi within the framework of the European network Europe Beyond Access, co-funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union