UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 26 MAY 2010
As part of its ‘Aspects of Design’ series, Birmingham City University is welcoming author and philosopher Satish Khumar to host a special lecture on ‘Designing the Future’.
The lecture will be held at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design’s (BIAD) campus at Gosta Green on Wednesday 9 June at 5pm.
Satish Kumar was a disciple of one of Ghandi’s most eminent disciples, Vinoba Bhave, and previously lived as a Jain monk in his native India. A passionate advocate of nuclear disarmament, he and a companion famously walked from Bangalore to the capitals of four of the world’s nuclear powers – USA, the UK, France and the USSR – in 1962. His trip was made even more extraordinary by the fact that he traversed the distance (more than 8,000 miles) carrying no money, relying simply on the goodness of strangers.
Now living in the UK, Satish Khumar is the editor of Resurgence, a magazine that promotes ecological sustainability, social justice and spiritual values. Daring the world to eschew narrow ‘realism’, his philosophy is to think the unthinkable in pursuit of worthwhile goals.
"Look at what realists have done for us. They have led us to war and climate change, poverty on an unimaginable scale, and wholesale ecological destruction. Half of humanity goes to bed hungry because of all the realistic leaders in the world. I tell people who call me 'unrealistic' to show me what their realism has done. Realism is an outdated, overplayed and wholly exaggerated concept."
In this lecture – the fourth in BIAD’s ‘Aspects of Design’ series – Satish Khumar will discuss the importance of designing with reverence for the planet.
Admission to the lecture is free, by ticket only. Bookings can be made by contacting Yanyan Wang in BIAD’s Research Office (yanyan.wang@bcu.ac.uk / 0121 331 7823). Refreshments will follow the talk.
Ends
Event Summary
Date and time: Wednesday 9 June, 5pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre, Phipps Building, BIAD – Gosta Green Campus (Birmingham B4 7DX)
Admission: Free
Bookings: via yanyan.wang@bcu.ac.uk / 0121 331 7823
For further information, contact Joy Krishna (joy.krishna@bcu.ac.uk / 0121 331 7984)
Issued by Birmingham City University Media Relations Office.
Tel: 0121 331 6738 / Email press@bcu.ac.uk / Out-of-hours: 07967 271 532
Notes to Editors
1. Birmingham Institute of Art and Design is part of Birmingham City University, the substantial arts training provision of which also includes Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham School of Acting and the National Academy of Writing.
For more information on Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, please visit www.bcu.ac.uk/biad
For more information on Birmingham City University, please visit www.bcu.ac.uk or, for events information, www.bcu.ac.uk/events