The Offer: Extremity and Invention
22 Apr 2020
The Offer
Extremity and Invention – a presentation by Dr Barbara Heinzen
Revisit The Offer from 22 April 2020 – Extremity and Invention – a presentation by Dr Barbara Heinzen.
Pandemics have been with us throughout history so what might be the role of the arts in a world beyond this corona virus? The speed and scale of the Black Death may prove instructive.
Dr Barbara Heinzen is a geographer, scenario planner and futures thinker whose research interests include how we might invent ecological economies. Her study of how societies learn and adapt led her to focus on the origins of Industrial Society in England and its foundations before and after the Black Death in 1348. Systemic change often came when people were compelled to engage differently in a spirit of neighbourliness and invention. Industrial society emerged from the multiple experiments that resulted.
American by birth, Barbara lived in London for 30 years before moving back to the US to set up a biodiversity restoration project with colleagues in the UK and East Africa. A PhD at SOAS was followed by work with international business, NGO and voluntary projects, including a cross-sector initiative on HIV/Aids in South Africa; equitable access to water in the Jordan Valley and energy scenarios in the US and East Africa. For 13 years, she worked with the LIFT Festival on a cross-sector, intergenerational learning programme.
Barbara will talk about her research findings, their relevance to the arts and thoughts on futures beyond the current health emergency.
“The Offer” online events series
Presented as part of The Offer – a series of regular online events from Culture Declares Emergency. Discover upcoming events and watch any past events you’ve missed.
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