Masterclass and Conference
Masterclass offered by Gabriela Rendón and Co-creation of Principles of Biotik Design
Location
Speakers
Gabriela Rendón is a Mexican-born architect, researcher and urban planner based in New York. Her work focusses on the study, development and implementation of policies, programmes and public instruments for urban development and restructuring and housing from a Right to the City perspective. Rendón is the co-founder of Urban Front and Cohabitation Strategies, where she has led projects in a number of cities in Europe, North America and Latin America. She currently works as Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Community Development and is the Founding Director of the Housing Justice Lab at Parsons School of Design, The New School, in New York. Her work has been exhibited at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Portugal Triennale 2016, the Vienna Biennale 2015, the Istanbul Design Biennial 2012, and the 4th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam.
Pez Estudio is the team of female architects, the curators of BBDW24. Since 2006, they have produced urban development, architecture, design and research-action projects from a feminist, participative and ecological approach. They seek to minimise people’s impact on the environment, to develop more inclusive cities with gender perspective, and to promote the use of biological systems and natural materials and the generation of contexts of collaboration.
Their work has received international awards from entities including Arquia Próxima, the Caribbean Architecture Biennale, the Architecture Biennial of Santo Domingo and the Holcim Foundations Awards. Their work has been developed in a number of institutions and programmes at international level including the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the MoMA in New York, the Shenzhen Biennale of Architecture, Medialab-Prado and Intermediae Matadero Madrid.
Elisa de los Reyes García is an architect and the co-founder of Pez Estudio, of the Wikitoki laboratory of Collaborative Practices in Bilbao and the Inteligencias Colectivas/Zoohaus project. She is part of the teaching team of the Masters Design for Change at IED Kunsthal and has held conferences and workshops in Europe and America (Parsons The New School NY, MoMA NY, Matadero Madrid, Medialab Prado, CCE in Lima, Santo Domingo, Chile, etc.).
Organised by
This conference brings together professionals from all the design disciplines in Bizkaia for a day of learning and exchange. The session begins with an inspiring Masterclass given by Gabriela Rendón, a Mexican architect based in New York, recognised for her disruptive projects linked to social justice. This is followed by a collaborative conference led by Pez Estudio, curators of the BBDW24, in which participants co-create around the principles and imaginary of Biotik Design, producing recommendations for sustainable design in the region. A space designed to find yourself, share ideas and reflect collectively on new ways of acting from design.
Gabriela Rendón proposes Decolonial, Plural and Liberating Practices and Perspectives. She invites us to explore forms of thinking and acting that challenge the current ways of understanding and inhabiting the world. From a transdisciplinary approach, we take a closer look at ideas and practices that promote collective transformations in favour of social, economic, urban and environmental justice.
The Masterclass offers a space for learning about design strategies and methodologies that seek to liberate our way of seeing and acting in our environment, promoting awareness, political education and change both as individuals and as groups. This is an opportunity to reconsider the impact of our professional and academic practices, moving away from extractive, discriminatory and colonial approaches.
Afterwards, we explore how to apply the principles of Biotik Design to the context of Bizkaia. During this exercise, we work on the creation of a set of basic principles that will act as a guide for the design and implementation of projects that are committed to ecological equilibrium, inclusion, collaboration, open knowledge and experimentation. Participants have the opportunity to define these recommendations and imaginary, adapting them to the needs and characteristics of the region, ensuring their relevance in the local environment.
