Innovative Perspectives on Creativity in the Public Sphere

On June 29^th, 2021, the Concordia University Innovation Lab will host an open lunch on Creativity in the Public Sphere.

Our line-up of five guest speakers will engage in discussions about rethinking creativity in public spaces, events and pedagogy. They will also present how their creative innovations inspired their career paths and projects.

Vila Woo will present her innovative approach to how she sets up outdoor spaces that are conducive to teaching and learning, how nature can be transformed, and how children develop ideas organically. She will discuss how she fosters creativity and community- friendly experiences through art, fitness and nature - using nature as inspiration and as a medium for constructing accessible and affordable activities. 

Penny Hay will discuss Spaces of Possibility. Her initiative, House of Imagination, offers an alternative, creative approach to learning, reconceptualising the curriculum with the city as a campus for learning. Her team is researching experimental sites for pedagogical innovation to place young people’s agency at the centre. Penny will share learning from the Forest of Imagination 2014-21. Forest of Imagination is a contemporary arts and design event co-designed by Grant Associates, House of Imagination and local creative industries that reimagines a familiar space to inspire everyone’s creativity and heighten a sense of nature in an urban environment.

Andrew Amondson will share the design and development of his Living Tree installation, together with design consultant Alexandre (Sasha) Mballa-Ekobena. The two will discuss adapting the Living Tree concept for Rockefeller Center and an exciting collaboration with Forest of Imagination to create a Living Tree Forest inside The Egg, Royal Theatre Bath.

Geneviève Lamarche will tell a story of her very long journey that it took her to get to where she needed to be, to pursue a path in Creativity.

How can you participate? Register for the Zoom webinar or watch live on our Facebook.

Have questions on this topic that you want to get to our experts and makers ahead of time? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Speakers

Vila Woo (BFA, MA in Art Education) is a 20+ year art educator, fitness trainer, entrepreneur, and mentor.  Vila has published in American Art Education magazines, and made appearances on Breakfast Television for her novel art projects. Vila is the founder of happyimagination, a unique children's service that brings personalized art and fitness activities to homes, schools and centers. 

Penny Hay is an artist, educator, Reader in Creative Teaching and Learning, Senior Lecturer in Arts Education, School of Education; Research Fellow, Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries; Bath Spa University and Director of Research, House of Imagination. Signature projects include School Without Walls and Forest of Imagination. Penny’s PhD focused on children’s learning identity as artists, awarded in 2018. She is Co-Investigator on the AHRC Global Challenges Research project ‘Rethinking waste: Compound 13 Lab’ in Mumbai.

Alexandre Mballa-Ekobena(Sasha) is an Architect with a focus on Computational design in the field of Art, Design and Architecture. He holds a B.Sc from Ball State University, and a M.Sc in Integrative Technologies and Architectural Design Research, through the Institute for Computational Design and Construction and the Institut für Tragkonstruktionen und Konstruktives Entwerfen at the Universität Stuttgart. As a consultant he has worked with  Artists such as Elmgreen & Dragset, Ivana Franke, Simon Fujiwara and Alicja Kwade in the realizations of Art installations and sculptures. He currently applies his interest in the use of computational design to enhance fabrication and design workflows as a technical manager in Advanced 3D at Adidas AG.

Andrew Amondson is an American born artist and filmmaker living in Berlin. His career in documentaries includes collaborations with Wim Wenders. He formed Playful Nature in 2015 with fellow artist Benjamin Martin, co-creating play based installations in Berlin and sharing their work in Denmark, Italy and the UK. He joined Studio Olafur Eliasson in 2017. His own artistic practice focuses on participative installations connecting us to nature and one another.

Geneviève Lamarche has a creative path which has been a unique journey and currently pursuing a bachelor's in education with a focus on Maker Education.