As we begin to redesign our communities, agriculture, organizations, economies, and governments with life in mind, we need to ask what we really mean by ‘life:’ Which aspects of living systems are we modeling? The light reflection of a hummingbird’s wing? The Fibonacci sequence pattern of snail shells and fiddlehead ferns? Or is it ecological relationships like symbiotic mutualism or predator prey relationships? This question is more than just an academic or philosophical one when we are considering life as a model for design.

In this Lecture, Jeff Su presents nRhythm’s synthesis of our exploration of “What is Life?” and holistic Regenerative Design Framework which is being used by organizations, networks, and communities around the world to address some of our most complex social and ecological issues of our time.

This seminar is presented by the Living Systems Art and Design Collaboratory of the Design Science Studio at the Buckminster Fuller Institute in partnership with habRitual + The Emergent Media DesignLab at the University of California, Irvine.

This new program provides support for artists and designers to aid in the development of creative projects that explore living systems. The Collaboratory will work with a cohort of 30 designers and artists to design projects that aid people in perceiving the biological, cognitive, social, ecological, philosophical, spiritual, mathematical, political and technological dimensions of life as a unified whole as inspired by living systems.

Learn More: 

• Buckminster Fuller Institute 
• Design Science Studio
• habRitual