Two events I would love to go to: Slow Textiles conference and Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy
Stroud International Slow Textiles Conference
From the website: This two day conference will tackle the topical and challenging area of new textile technology and look at future textiles with a conscience. How ‘Slow Design’ focuses on ideas of well-being. Three of the speakers, are associated with the slow design network, and they will consider the impact and drive behind this dynamic forward looking initiative.
Slow design outcomesencourage a reduction in economic, industrial and urban metabolisms, and hence consumption, by: serving basic human needs; creating moments to savour and enjoy the (human) senses; designing for space to think, react, dream, and muse; designing for people first and commercialisation second; balancing the local with the global and the social with the environmental; demystifying and democratising design by re-awakening individual’s own design potential; and catalysing social transformation towards a less materialistic way of living.
Symposium agenda from the website: The International Symposium 2010 will be split into three complementary parts. The program will begin by looking in greater detail at “culture” and “identity” and how these terms are used and understood today.
The second part of the program will build on these components by considering the role that culture plays in contemporary international relations and the process of globalization. During these three days the concepts of “cultural diplomacy” and “soft power” will also be explored in more detail.
The final part of the program will apply these discussions to one of the key issues that will determine global politics over the coming years – Afghanistan and stability in Central Asia.
