Festival(s) of Ideas

Kristin: Adelaide has a long-standing record of festivals and ideas. We are preparing to be immersed and overwhelmed across the next couple of weeks (ok, months) with a myriad of activities in the Festival of Ideas (#afoi), the Festival of Unpopular Culture (#FUCAdl) and more.

North Tce, Adelaide (Historical Booklet, undated) Photo: OSU Archives

Here’s a list of what I’ll be doing, so if you’re local hopefully we can meet up. And if you’re not I’ll be tweeting, and some of these events will be livestreamed. So here it is:

Kristin’s Calendar of Ideas

Friday 7th October

• OPENING EVENT: UNCERTAINTY AND SCIENCE #afoi 6:30 pm
• Opening Night “Gala” #FUCAdl 7pm

Saturday 8th October

• THREE TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVE #afoi #ttforum 12pm. This is presented by Bridge8 and the RiAus (event info here) for the National Enabling Technologies Strategy Expert Forum and includes three new animations by James Hutson on regenerative medicine, vertical farming and synthetic meat (see previous post).
• InsideOut Walking Tour #FUCAdl #FUCstuckup 2:30pm. We’ll be talking to photographers and artists about the portraits we pasted up in the West End to tell stories of our city as part of TED Prize winner JR’s global art initiative (see previous post).
• SPECIAL EVENT: RESOURCE RICH OR DIRT CHEAP? #afoi 7pm

Sunday 9th October

• THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE BOOK #afoi 11:00am
• NO BOUNDARIES, NO BORDERS, NO BARRIERS #afoi 1pm. I’ll be MC for Laura Brooks, an engineer currently undertaking research in flow-induced noise to determine ways we can design quieter transport and energy technologies.
• THE GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY #afoi #FUCAdl 2:30pm
• The Rapture of the Nerds #FUCAdl 6pm. I’ll be on a panel discussing whether understanding the human brain through science means the end of death.

Thursday 13th October

• XTK Projects: Improving Innovation by Giving Money to Ideas that Don’t Make Sense. Yet. #FUCAdl #FUCXTK 5pm. The long-waited follow-up to our launch of the XTK Projects – peer-sourced funding for cross-disciplinary ideas that don’t make sense. This session feature a panel of ideas people and projects.
• Nigel Koop In Cognito #FUCAdl 7pm. In which I will be an interviewee.

Friday 14th October

• Tales from the A.R.I.s #FUCAdl 4pm

and if all that isn’t enough, there’s also

• a public event during AusBiotech on Monday 17th October: On Human Enhancement (details TBA, presented by Bridge8 for the National Enabling Technologies Strategy)
• the Earth Station Festival from Friday 21st October – Sunday 23rd October
• Followed by TEDxAdelaide in November! Organised by Bridge8 with creative partners RiAus and support from initiatives within the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Saturday 12th November is TEDxAdelaide #TEDxADL 11am – 8 pm, Saturday 19th November is planned for TEDxYouth@Adelaide #TEDxYouth #TEDxADL (TBA).

I’m exhausted yet exhilarated thinking about it.