Beyond Design
Since its establishment in 2007, LEAF has held strong that there must be processes that support conversation and dialogue. This belief has been expressed in the past through a curated series called 12 on 12; a series that, over multiple editions, invited landscape architects, and architects, and designers, to present for precisely 12 minutes on a topic of their choosing, and also the webinar series that it has set up - Saturday Sojourns - through which we will continue to engage with Landscape Design Practitioners, and
This series started with a single conversation with Ms. Anjali Jain, and
Ms. Priyal Naik.
Most recently, in April of 2022, we set up an in-studio lecture series - Beyond Design - which was designed to invite people from a variety of fields, to conduct conversations that were designed around their fields of interest; conversations that may impact ideas of design.
Speakers from the first edition of Beyond Design - Landscape Architects, Architects, Researchers, Furniture and Interior Designers, Photographers, Art Curators, and Textile Designers.
The first edition saw speakers in the fields of architecture, landscape design, interior design and furniture design, photography, and art curation; the second edition, which began in April of 2023, has invited people from the fields of music, theatre arts, finance and ornithology, and psychology, amongst others
The format is designed to be as such - each presenter spoke for anywhere between 40 - 45 minutes. These presentations are designed to act as points of departure for the discussions that then follow; discussions that are moderated by sector experts, who tend to build on the threads that have been previously presented.
While the discussants do not critique the work that has been presented by the speaker, in the traditional sense of the word, they are charged with the responsibility of constructing the conversation, asking the right questions, and encouraging the presenter - and in turn the audience - to reflect on that which has been presented. And so, while there is great care and attention given to the selection of presenters - there is an equal amount of care given to the invitation of discussants.
The speakers for the 2nd Edition include theatre practitioners, musicians, visual artists, therapists, business people, and more.
In assessing the impact of the series, it is clear that it has allowed a space for making nuanced connections between ideas that are seemingly unconnected, and a space that allows the mind to wander. The series will continue for the remainder of the year.
