Knowle West Media Podcast: Recent Episodes
Knowle West Media Centre
KWMC is an arts centre and charity and we’ve been based in South Bristol – on the Knowle West estate – since 1996
At Knowle West Media Centre we support people to make positive changes in their lives and communities, using technology and the arts to come up with creative solutions to problems and explore new ways of doing things.
The TwinERGY project has been developed to address the gap in technology and understanding of energy between citizens.
The project aims to:
- Test new technologies to increase the efficiency of energy use and generation in building
- Place citizens at the heart of the energy market
Knowle West Media Centre, together with Bristol University and Bristol City Council run the project within Bristol, UK. We brought the participants of the project together for an evening of food and conversation to share their experiences of living with the technology and to ask question to our guest experts, Sam Gunner (Bristol University) and Matt Jones (Bristol City Council).
TwinERGY Project - Equiwatt - We Can Make Homes
This conversation was recorded as part of Knowle West Media Centre's, Arts Council England Funded, project Come Together 2021.
The conversation is between Melissa Mean, Director of citizen led housing initiative We Can Make based in Knowle West. Bristol and Jessica Prendergrast and Georgie Grant Directors of Onion Collective a CIC based in Watchet Somerset. Chaired by Martha King Arts Programme Manager at KWMC and Come Together producer.
Maria joined Dogs Trust 3 years ago as a coach and before that she worked in various animal rehoming centres helping dogs find their forever homes. Since joining Dogs Trust Maria has achieved a Post Graduate Certificate in Clinical Animal Behaviour from Edinburgh University, she became a member of the APDT and is currently training to become a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist.
She also owns 2 rescue dogs who are constantly teaching her about dog training and behaviour.
‘’A combination of human, animal and tech can sometimes create the best mix; drawing on everyone and everything's best skills.’’
Luisa Ruge:
Luisa is a user-centred designer and a creative entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience helping companies of all sizes design compelling user experiences. She has lived and worked in the US, Latin America, Europe, and Australia. Her mission lies in establishing the field of animal-centred design (ACD) with the aim to legitimize animals as users of products and services and develop exceptional animal-centric user experiences. As she states: “animals are an integral part of society: understanding and designing towards meeting their unique and individual needs will allow us to better serve them and us in our evolving human-focused landscapes”.
www.luisaruge.com
Tatiana Powell:
Creator of the Forms of Intelligence podcasts. Made during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis Campbell, KWMC Digital Community Projects Coordinator and Martha King, KWMC Arts manager and FOI project lead. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, with a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research methods. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels
‘’Sometimes we only a value a tree when it is no longer there.’’
This conversation was recorded by Tatiana Powell & Lewis Campbell as part of the KWMC Forms of Intelligence Project funded by DCRC & KWMC. For more information visit: https://kwmc.org.uk/projects/formsofintelligence/
Jim started as a young garden labourer and became head gardener at Oxford Brookes University and Wookey Holes Caves Limited. He moved to Bristol and now lives in Filwood (Knowle West) – due to his background in gardening he volunteered to be Filwood’s tree champion and in this role he looks after, replaces or puts in new trees in the area.
http://www.knowlewest.co.uk/filwood-has-its-own-tree-champion/
Tatiana Powell:
Made the Forms of Intelligence podcasts during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis Campbell and KWMC producers for the Forms of Intelligence project. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, completing a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research method with honours. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels
"People forget that as humans we are animals too and having the level of separation, we do from the natural world is really detrimental to us as animals."
18-year-old Mya-Rose Craig is a prominent British Bangladeshi birder and environmentalist. She is committed to conservation and saving our planet, whilst respecting indigenous peoples, and highlighting Global Climate Justice as it intersects with Climate Change Action. She writes a blog, Birdgirl, gives talks (having spoken with Greta Thunberg), writes articles, and has appeared on TV and radio. As President of Black2Nature, which she founded age 13, she is the youngest person to be awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science for fighting for equal access to nature and ethnic diversity in the environmental sector.
www.birdgirluk.com, Twitter @Birdgirl.UK and Instagram @birdgirluk
Tatiana Powell:
Made the Forms of Intelligence podcasts during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis Campbell and KWMC producers for the Forms of Intelligence project. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, completing a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research method with honours. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels
‘’I try to think of nature as partner not a product and as a collaborator not as a resource to constantly be exploited and serve humans rather than as an equal partner’’
Kasia Molga is a design fusionist and artist working on the intersection of art, science and engineering. She examines our - human - perception of “nature” in the constantly growing and increasingly technologically mediated environments. She creates tangible, multisensory and visual experiences, immersive environments, installations and speculative fiction stories. Kasia exhibits worldwide (Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, MoMA and MIS among others) and has received many international awards and grants including Ars Electronica Honorary Mention, Wellcome Trust, Creative Industries NL and more. Her work has attracted the attention of press such as The Guardian, BBC and The Washington Post. Kasia is a co-founder of World Wilder Lab Collective (www.worldwilderlab.net), funding member of Open H2O (former Protei Collective), and holds an MA in Interdisciplinary Design Studies (UAL, London). She regularly lectures and consults within academia and industry. She is a licensed Scuba Diver, avid traveller, aerial photographer and spent her childhood sailing on merchant navy vessels.
http://www.studiomolga.com
Tatiana Powell:
Made the Forms of Intelligence podcasts during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis Campbell and KWMC producers for the Forms of Intelligence project. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, completing a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research method with honours. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels
‘’When you look at a tree how often do you think or know about the sophisticated fungal networks under the ground and what kind of mutually beneficial relationships they have with the trees?’’
This conversation was recorded by Tatiana Powell & Lewis Campbell as part of the KWMC Forms of Intelligence Project funded by DCRC & KWMC
For more information visit: https://kwmc.org.uk/projects/formsofintelligence/
Sylvia deftly blends theatre and performance art. She encourages her audience to interact playfully with elements of video, audio, new technologies, animals (imagined and real) and fragments of dance. Consciousness, memory, imagination and our connectivity with the natural world are recurring areas of interest, coupled with personal experiences. She collaborates with specialists from fields including Neuroscience, Mathematics, Psychology and from various communities, culminating in entertaining and thought-provoking performances. Her work has been presented throughout the UK, including the British Council Showcase at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and London’s Barbican Centre in SPILL Festival, and internationally in Europe and Australia (Proximity Festival Perth; Sydney Festival).
http://sylviarimat.com/
Tatiana Powell:
Made the Forms of Intelligence podcasts during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis Campbell and KWMC producers for the Forms of Intelligence project. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, completing a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research method with honours. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels
‘’If you look at a butterfly they never fly in a straight line. The reason it is jiggling about and choosing a purposefully wiggly path is obviously to confuse birds and avoid being eaten.’’
This conversation was recorded by Tatiana Powell & Lewis Campbell as part of the KWMC Forms of Intelligence Project funded by DCRC & KWMC
For more information visit: https://kwmc.org.uk/projects/formsofintelligence/
Ben Barker and his wife Jo live in Southville. Ben retired from paid work long ago, but is a community activist (also known as a ‘busy body’). Among his current enthusiasms are the Let’s Walk Bedminster project which encourages people to keep the pavement outside their homes and businesses clear of obstructions and My Wild South Bristol which works with gardeners, allotment holders, park support groups and others to raise people’s awareness of the wildlife around them and to improve the environment for our wild neighbours.
https://www.tresa.org.uk/bs3-wildlife-my-wild-south-bristol-2/
Tatiana Powell:
Made the Forms of Intelligence podcasts during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis Campbell and KWMC producers for the Forms of Intelligence project. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, completing a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research method with honours. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels
“...more and more in biology people are recognising that (actually) it’s the differences between the individuals in a collective that are important for making the group work effectively’’
This conversation was recorded by Tatiana Powell & Lewis Campbell as part of the KWMC Forms of Intelligence Project funded by DCRC & KWMC
For more information visit: https://kwmc.org.uk/projects/formsofintelligence/
Dr Edmund Hunt is a researcher at the University of Bristol in the Department of Engineering Mathematics, where he is part of the Collective Dynamics group. He is interested in how ’swarms’ of agents, in biology and robotics, can organise together to achieve capabilities that are ‘more than the sum of their parts’. For example, together a colony of ants can explore their environment and find the best quality food sources. We could take inspiration from this to design a team of robots to look for sources of pollution to protect our environment. Edmund is also a resident of Knowle, Bristol.
http://www.bris.ac.uk/engineering/people/edmund-r-hunt/index.html
Tatiana Powell:
Made the Forms of Intelligence podcasts during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis Campbell and KWMC producers for the Forms of Intelligence project. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, completing a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research method with honours. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels
’I believe my honey bees recognise me - perhaps the frequency of my voice?’
This conversation was recorded by Tatiana Powell & Lewis Campbell as part of the KWMC Forms of Intelligence Project funded by DCRC & KWMC
For more information visit: https://kwmc.org.uk/projects/formsofintelligence/ (could embed the link above)
Charli Clark is a Bristol based artist, gardener and beekeeper working across a variety of media including painting, film, performance, sculpture, socially engaged and biological art. Charli graduated with a Master’s in Environmental Art from Aalto University of Art, Design and Architecture, Helsinki, in 2015. Since then, she has been involved with exhibitions, residencies and workshops internationally, and is currently based at artists’ cooperative Centrespace Studios. Alongside her artistic practice, she has spent time training and working as a gardener to further understand how humans impact on environments and gain a greater appreciation of the natural cycle of a year.
http://charliclark.co.uk/
Tatiana Powell:
Made the Forms of Intelligence podcasts during a journalist internship programme at KWMC supported by Lewis campbell and KWMC producers for the Forms of Intelligence project. Tatiana is a 2019 graduate from the University of Bristol, completing a degree in Social Policy with quantitative research method with honours. She is director of TP Research (freelance research and project management), Creative Director of PPA (virtual assistance and business growth), and a freelance journalist and editor at KWMC, as well as sitting on the Board of Trustees at the Full Circle Project at the Docklands Community Centre in Bristol. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, specialising in working with BME [Black and Minority Ethnic] males in Britain, and aims to support the above in a qualitative and quantitative way.
Photo by Kira Louw from Pexels