Join the Ecological Design Collective for the first conversation as we follow the development of a public artwork that focuses on listening to the ecosystem. Asad Raza has been commissioned to create a permanent art installation on the River Granta in Cambridgeshire opening Summer of 2025. The Granta is a rare chalk stream sustaining the habitats for a range of wildlife. Well known for his collaborative approach to projects, the artist is partnering with ecologists, microbiologists, and architects and now us here at the EDC. This is a unique opportunity to be part of an ongoing conversation while the artist is in the process of creation. The talks will be on Tuesdays at noon (EST) on December 3, 2024; February 11, 2025; April 8, 2025; and June 10th 2025. Participants are encouraged to register and participate in all the conversations.

Asad Raza creates dialogues and rejects disciplinary boundaries in his work, which conceives of art as a metabolic, active encounter within and beyond the exhibition setting. Raza’s practice often takes planetary ecologies as a focus, with a strong emphasis on the participatory and the performative aspects of art, as well as an engagement with all of the senses. His projects have been realized by institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Kaldor Public Art Projects, Sydney; Gropius Bau, Berlin; Serpentine Galleries, London; Kunsthalle Portikus, Frankfurt; Ruhrtriennale, Essen; the Lahore Biennale; Museion, Bolzano; and Mori Art Museum, Tokyo.

Dr. Kristine Roome has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University.  She has served on the faculty at Teachers College, Columbia University and The New School University and elsewhere and has curated and consulted on numerous contemporary art exhibitions. She was on the board of Black Rock Forest Consortium, The Maryland Historic Trust and helped found the Center for Sustainable Futures. She currently works at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and is the author of the forthcoming book The Human Feather: Conversations Beyond Art & Science.

Join our community and learn more about our programming. The EDC is a community for radical ecological imagination and collaborative practice, with roots at local universities like ours and networks that reach around the world. We are working to foster more sustainable and equitable futures, in collaboration with other researchers, artists, activists, designers, writers, and others. Join our community to learn more about the events and experiences we’ve been hosting.