Talk
Open Forum: Nina Lund Westerdahl
On September 30th, Nina Lund Westerdahl joins open forum to talk about urban space design, participation and play, and the Home Planet project – a three day larp inspired by the 1974 novel “The Dispossesed” by Ursula Le Guin that takes place during the Oslo Architecture Triennale.
Doors at 17:00, talk at 18:00, free soup afterwards. Welcome!
About Nina Lund Westerdahl
Nina Lund Westerdahl works magic in the field of critical urban practice and playful arts. An architect by training, she realizes collaborative, cross-disciplinary projects, taking on roles as artist, scenographer, graphic designer, or curator.
Nina holds an MA in Architecture from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and worked as an architect in Denmark, Zurich, Sierra Leone and Palestine before expanding her practice into the wider cultural field of urban practice.
As a member of urban artist group zURBS since its inception in 2011, Nina has realized over 40 urban art projects across Europe, all of which engage different publics in exploring and rethinking the fabric of city life.
In 2016, Nina is a founding member of Cultural Protocols, an organization that collects techniques for repeatable open-ended social situations that increase awareness and sensitivity for the environments and people around us.
Nina is an active contributor to the emerging cultural field of Nordic Live Action Roleplaying (LARP). She is Co-founder of UNION, a cross-disciplinary group exploring the intersection of LARP and the art world. Currently, Nina is applying her cross-disciplinary curating practice by connecting Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019 with practitioners from the LARP scene.
Background for the Home Planet project
In 1972, the Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth – a pioneering study on the dangers of unconstrained population and economic growth. The report proposed methods by which citizens could live a good life that was equitable and ecologically regenerative: through a seismic shift moving away from the current focus on GDP growth and environmental destruction towards greater cultural richness and social equity.
The study was received with denial. Critics refused to listen to what they deemed to be a ‘doomsday fantasy’, arguing that technology would remove perceived planetary constraints and that the global population and economy should grow unhindered forever. Only today are its predictions being seen clearly. The recent UN Special Climate Report has been alarming— environmental destruction and resource depletion will inescapably turn many people all over the world into climate refugees.The call for a different life with greater focus on human wellbeing within our planetary boundaries has never been more urgent, but how can this new life be lived?
Home Planet combines playable theatre, live action role play and architecture to address this question. It invites participants to live as travellers from another culture, society and reality for 72 hours. An audience is invited to meet and engage with the travellers and explore their worldview.