UN75 DIALOGUES

Rising Waters / Resilient Cultures

DIALOGUE PARTNERS

COLLABORATORS

11 JUNE 2020

In collaboration with UNESCO and ResiliArt, this Dialogue explores cultural resilience and the need for innovation and imagination in the face of rising sea levels and a global climate emergency. There is a special focus on Small Island States and the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale. The Dialogue is moderated by UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Ernesto Ottone R., and features panelists Anna Somers Cocks, Founder Editor of The Art Newspaper and Former Chair of the Venice in Peril Fund; Hashim Sarkis, Dean of MIT’s School of Architecture + Planning and Curator of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale; Angelique Pouponneau, Chief Executive Officer of Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust; and Rashad Salim, Expeditionary Artist and Creator of Ark Re-imagined, representing Iraq at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale. The one-hour discussion is followed by

a public Q&A and special video messages from the President of Seychelles, H.E. Danny Faure, broadcasting live during the Nekton Mission’s first descent 124 meters below the Indian Ocean; Venice resident and Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources, Andrea Rinaldo; and Rashad Salim’s Ark for Iraq project.

PANELISTS

Ernesto Renato Ottone Ramírez Moderator

UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture

Mr Ernesto Ottone Ramírez is the Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO. Prior to this position, Mr Ottone Ramírez served as Chile’s first Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage from 2015 to 2018. From 2011 to 2015, Mr Ottone Ramírez served as Director-General of the Artistic and Cultural Extension Center of the University of Chile.

Angelique Pouponneau

Chief Executive Officer of Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust

Angelique is a lawyer (Seychelles and UK) and she holds an LLM in Environmental law specializing in the law of the sea and natural resources law. Also, Angelique is a trained climate change negotiator under the AOSIS Climate Change Fellowship Programme at the United Nations.

Anna Somers Cocks

Founder Editor of The Art Newspaper and Former Chair of the Venice in Peril Fund

Anna Somers Cocks is an editor and journalist. She was a curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, then editor of Apollo magazine. In 1990 she launched The Art Newspaper, edited it until 2002 and was then involved in its parent company in various capacities until 2018. She was chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund for 12 years and is now investigating how climate change will affect the heritage.

Rashad Salim

Expeditionary Artist and Creator of Ark Re-imagined, representing Iraq at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale

Born in Khartoum Sudan (1957) to a German Mother and an artist diplomat Father, Rashad Salim is an expeditionary artist and designer with a particular interest in the history and development of culture and technology as reflected in ancient boats, headgear, printmaking techniques (Mesopotamian cylinder seals) and voyaging. He studied at The Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad and St Martin’s in London.