Symposium

Feminist ÉLAN – Designing Landscapes in the Anthropocene

At TU Berlin, landscape architecture scholar Lisa Diedrich is starting as the new head of the subject area “Entwerfen von Landschaften im Anthropozän/Designing Landscapes in the Anthropocene”, or ÉLAN for short. The name says it all: Rather than seeing the Anthropocene as the antechamber to apocalypse, for the detrimental changes wrought by human activities on all things planetary, the ÉLAN team adopts a feminist stance, imbued with responsibility and care. It mobilises their willpower and creativity to teach and research for change, for the better and more beautiful for all forms of life. ÉLAN takes the Anthropocene as an invitation to work in teams (collectively), to combine the knowledge from practice and academia (i.e. transdisciplinarity), to collaborate with colleagues across the hemispheres (in international networks), and to strengthen the resolutely democratic culture of landscape architecture in Europe (a promising stance). ÉLAN’s team, their bachelor and master students, and selected international partners come together to animate an open makerspace with afternoon panels and performances. The events will be held in English and can be switched to German if necessary (parallel language use).

01

CO-llective, 23 June, 16:00 – 18:00h

• Literature salon with Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner, Copenhagen University, and Meike Schalk, KTH Stockholm, moderated by Lisa Diedrich of ÉLAN
• Presentation of the book by Svava Riesto, Henriette Steiner (eds.), Women in Scandinavian Landscape Architecture – building collaborative and transnational feminist histories. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2025

02

TRANS-disciplinary, 24 June, 16:00 – 18:00h

• Panel discussion with Xenia Kokoula, GruppeF Berlin, Andrea Kahn, designCONTENT New York, Carolin Mees, Parsons School of Design und Pratt Institute New York, Nina Vogel, SLU Urban Futures Malmö, moderated by Lisa Diedrich and Anna Neuhaus of ÉLAN
• Statements by Andrea Kahn: Overlooking, a look at how we look at site; Xenia Kokoula: Opening up body space; Carolin Mees: Urban Space+; Nina Vogel: From Basement to Kitchen.

03

INTER-national, 26 June 2025, 16:00 – 18:00h + performance

Studio presentation by master students of the ÉLAN studio “Designing for Democracy” with Flavio Janches, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Paola Alfaro d’Alençon, UAS Frankfurt/PUC Santiago de Chile (TBC), Victoria Cuadrado and Javier Deyheralde, Ensayos Urbanos en el Campo Expandido, Buenos Aires – Berlin, moderated by Lisa Diedrich and Alejandro Orduz Trujillo of ÉLAN

// Open space activation with the 2DUCTO Urbano” transformer, directed by Victoria Cuadrado and Javier Deyheralde, Ensayos Urbanos en el Campo Expandido, Buenos Aires – Berlin

04

PRO-mising, 27 June 2025, 16:00 – 18:00h + party

• Landscape critique salon with the makers of Landscape Architecture Europe (LAE) #1-7, a book series promoting the critical collective review of contemporary projects of European landscape architecture, with Almut Jirku, landscape critic Berlin, Marina Cervera, LAE board member and International Biennial of Landscape Architecture Barcelona, Dominika Tihanyi, LAE jury member and Uyrani Studio Budapest, Steffi Schüppel, BDLA Germany and Studio Cattaneo Schüppel Dresden(TBC), Harry Harsema and Daphne de Bruijn of the creative team and publisher Blauwdruk Ede/Netherlands, moderated by Lisa Diedrich of ÉLAN
• Presentation of the latest edition of the LAE series by Diedrich et al. and LAE Foundation, Full of Life. Landscape Architecture Europe #7. Ede: Blauwdruk, 2025