The Inauguration of Hope
Webinar initiated by Li Edelkoort
23.01.2021
Li Edelkoort is one of the most influential figures in design and fashion. Originally from the Netherlands, she is now based between Paris and New York, and is an advisor to consumer brands around the world.
In view of the current crisis, Li Edelkoort and her company initiated the World Hope Forum in 2020 to develop ideas for the future across all areas.
“Under siege from the Covid-19 virus, many people have come to understand that they should change their behaviour patterns, no longer traveling too much, producing too much, consuming too much or using up too many resources. The comfort of being at and working from home, wasting time instead of money, has led people away from their addiction to material things and into a realm of sharing, caring and making. Making food, making music, making love and making clothes and crafts have become the centre of life; learning the improvisation skills that ignite a more creative culture. Most people don’t want to go back to the same old society, and long to change their lives forever.
By the end of this pandemic, as if after a war, only our buildings will remain standing and everything else will have changed. It is certain that many enterprises will be forced into a leaner way of producing goods and services, with some companies skipping production lines that are no longer considered vital, keeping today’s products for next year’s offering, and professing a more frugal business sense. Established designers are reconsidering the amount of items they want to conceive and realise, recalibrating their assortment in line with precisely calculated demand.
The World Hope Forum is a new gathering that will include climate change on its agenda as well as caring for all neglected people involved in production chains and services. Under the leadership of ambassadors chosen in participating countries, the World Hope Forum will bring together speakers and selected case studies, good practices, retail reinventions and innovative ideas that will sprout in the spring of revival. Different solutions and scenarios brought together in a global (virtual) forum once a year. Dynamic concepts and economic data will be analysed and exchanged, for all of us to learn from and to inspire our creative energies.”
Source: https://www.edelkoort.us/manifesto
The first World Hope Forum took place in November 2020.
The lectures are available open source on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGhHpC12cZ4QvwfTRTM465A?view_as=subscriber
The second meeting with the title “The Inauguration of Hope” will take place on January 23rd 2021. It is organised in cooperation with WHF Ambassador for France, Stéphanie Calvino and will offer inspiring lecture by important contributors. The general public from all over the world is invited to join and share this event for free. At the heart of the exchange, themes such as the environment, industry, economy, architecture, waste management, diversity and society will all be addressed... The idea is to inspire each other, collaborate and imagine a new path forward.
PROGRAMME
Saturday, January 23, 2021
10:00 AM to 4:00 PM (New York)
7:00 AM to 1:00 PM (West Coast)
16:00 to 22:00 (Paris)
10:00 - Li Edelkoort introduces Barbara de Vries, WHF USA ambassador and curator of the webinar.
10:10 - 10:30 - Janus Adams, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, historian, and author, speaks about American Politics, Black Lives Matter and the Inauguration of a new President and female African American Vice-President.
10:30 - 11:00 - Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system, will give a blessing and show a movie about the farm and its community
11:00 - 11:30 - J Morgan Puett, artist and founder of Mildred’s Lane, presents her work to collectively create new modes of being in the world—our relation to the environment, systems of labor, forms of dwelling, clothing apparatuses, and inventive domesticating.
11:30 - 11:50 - Brad Ford, the founder of Field + Supply, shows the crafters and makers of the Field + Supply community and speaks to his mission to curate the ultimate modern craft fair both online and at the Hudson Brick Yards.
11:50 - 12:30 - Barbara de Vries, WHF USA ambassador and designer, presents her work as a plastic pollution activist and meets in conversation with Will Simmons, the founder of the Green School in Harbour Island, Bahamas.
Break - 45 mins
1:15 - 1:45 - Adam Silverman, ceramicist, talks about his Common Ground Project, and meets with Scott Alves Barton- chef and Phd in food studies, to discuss their collaboration.
1:45 - 2:15 - Christina Kim, designer and founder of Dosa, shows the Zero Waste project she developed during lockdown.
2:15 - 2:30 - Lidewij Edelkoort, presents student work from her MFA textiles program at The New School.
2:30 - 3:00 - Laura Chávez Silverman, founding naturalist of The Outside Institute, speaks about the healing and transformative powers of Nature in “The Epidemic of Disconnection & The Tonic of Wildness.”
3:00 - 3:30 - Kristine Tompkins - co- founder of the Tompkins Conservation, in conversation with Barbara de Vries about rewilding—the return and future of the wild.
3:30 - 4:00 - Miko Thomas/Landa Lakes - a Two Spirit activist and performer speaks about his/her career in the military and what it means to be Two Spirit. He/she will close the day with a blessing.
*schedule is subject to minor changes
More information and registration:
https://www.edelkoort.us/the-inauguration-of-hope