UN75 DIALOGUE
COUNTRYSIDE, THE FUTURE
Hosted by Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal
Hosted by Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal, this special UN75 Dialogue coincides with the reopening of the seminal exhibition, Countryside, The Future at the Guggenheim in New York.
The dialogue will explore radical changes transforming the surface of the world beyond cities. Countryside, the Future was conceived by architect and urbanist Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal, Director of AMO, the think tank of Koolhaas’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), presenting original research that addresses urgent environmental, political, and socioeconomic issues in rural contexts.
Dialogue moderated by: Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal.
Panelists: Etta Madete, Architect and Lecturer at University of Nairobi; Dr Linda Nkatha Gichuyia, Department of Architecture, University of Nairobi; Matthew Mazzotta, Social Practice Artist and Founder of The Main Idea; Lenora Ditzler, Agricultural systems scientist. PhD candidate at Wageningen University.
PANELISTS
Founder of OMA and co-curator of Countryside, The Future
Rem Koolhaas (born November 17, 1944) is a Dutch architect and urbanist known for his innovative, cerebral designs. He has been called a modernist, a deconstructivist, and a structuralist, yet many critics claim he leans toward humanism; his work searches for a link between technology and humanity. Koolhaas teaches at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Director of AMO and co-curator of Countryside, The Future
Samir Bantal is the director of AMO, the think- tank founded by Rem Koolhaas in 1998, which enables OMA to apply its architectural thinking beyond architecture, to the fields of design, technology, media and art. Between 2008-2012 he was editor of the Annual Architecture Yearbook of the Netherlands.
Social Practice Artist and founder of The Main Idea
Matthew Mazzotta works at the intersection of art, activism, and urbanism, focusing on the power of the built environment to shape our relationships and experiences. His community-specific public projects integrate new forms of civic participation and social engagement into the built environment and reveal how the spaces we travel through and spend our time living within have the potential to become distinct sites for intimate, radical, and meaningful exchanges.
Department of Architecture University of Nairobi
Dr Nkatha holds an MPhil in Environmental Design and a PhD in Architecture, both from the University of Cambridge in England. Before commencing her PhD, she worked in multiple architectural firms in Nairobi, and as a Tutorial Fellow at the University of Nairobi. She is currently a Lecturer at the Architecture and Building Science department of the University of Nairobi where she teaches Building Physics Masters courses as well as design and research Undergraduate courses of Architecture.
Agricultural Systems Scientist
Lenora Ditzler is a key collaborator in Countryside, The Future, exhibited from February 20 through August 14, 2020 at Solomon R. Guggenheim Musuem in New York.vShe is a PhD Candidate at Farming Systems Ecology, Wagneingen University in the Netherlands. She was Oxbow's Environmental Science instructor from OS23–OS30 and an Intern OS1–OS15.
Architect and Lecturer University of Nairobi
Etta Madete is an architectural designer at Buildx Studio(formerly Orkidstudio) and lecturer(TF) at the University of Nairobi. In both capacities she practices, teaches and does research on architectural design innovation that brings sustainable economic, social and environmental development to Kenya and beyond.