The Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture (IMCC) at the University of Westminster is proud to host the London premier of:

Nora Bateson's: An Ecology of Mind - A daughter's portrait of Gregory Bateson.

Screening followed by an interdisciplinary panel and audience discussion with Nora Bateson. The evening will end with a wine reception in the Regent St foyer, courtesy of the University of Westminster

Panel:

Nora Bateson (www.anecologyofmind.com)

Jody Boehnert (Ecological Literacy researcher, Brighton University (http://eco-labs.org/))

Ranulph Glanville (Independent academic; President of the American Society for Cybernetics)

Jon Goodbun (chair) - (Architecture, University of Westminster, RCA and UCL (www.rheomode.org.uk))

Peter Reason (Action Research (http://www.peterreason.eu/))

Wendy Wheeler (Biosemiotics, London Metropolitan University)

Event organised by Jon Goodbun (University of Westminster), Wallace Heim, Kevin Power (Centre for Action Research, Ashridge Business School) and Eva Bakkeslett

An Ecology of Mind:

“Tell me a story” … of life, art and science, of systems and survival
 
Gregory Bateson’s way of thinking – seeing the world as relationships, connections and patterns – continues to influence and provoke new thinking about human social life, about ecology, technology, art, design and health. Nora Bateson, Gregory’s youngest daughter, introduces Bateson’s ideas to new audiences in her film An Ecology of Mind, using the metaphor of a relationship between father and daughter, and footage of Bateson’s talks.
 
Each screening, too, hosts a discussion between Nora and a wide range of people working in depth with Gregory Bateson’s ideas: artists, architects, action researchers, ecological activists, mental health practitioners, scientists, urban designers, cyberneticians.
 
These screenings and discussions show a way of thinking that crosses fields of knowledge and experience, one that can lead out of the ecological crisis and towards a more sound way of living.
 
These events lead to features mixing many angles: culture and science, cities and ecology, biology and communication, family health and systemic therapies, technologies and religion.
 
Gregory Bateson, British-American anthropologist, biologist, systems thinker (1904 – 1980),  invited people to look at a thing – an earthworm, a number sequence, a tree, a definition of addiction, anything at all – by seeing the interdependencies that connect them and the processes beneath the structures. He believed, “The major problems in the world are the result of the difference between the way nature works and the way people think.”

Nora Bateson is available for interview; please contact Wallace Heim (home @ wallaceheim.com).
 
film homepage: www.anecologyofmind.com
for other UK screenings: www.facebook.com/AnEcologyOfMind

UK Press:
“For me, watching Nora Bateson’s film was overwhelming. Her biggest achievement is in explaining abstract concepts in a clear way. Until now, Batesons’ work has been largely inaccessible outside the academic community. With this film, this is bound to change”
Jan van Boeckel, Resurgence, Jan-Feb 2012
 
Gobal Press:
“The double bind that we now face is this: on the one hand, we want to preserve our natural environment; on the other, everything we do to grow our economy and preserve our standard of living disrupts the natural environment and our relationships with it. Nora, like her father, suggests that we must raise our consciousness and learn to think in new ways to escape our pathology of wrong thinking…Nora Bateson presents viewers not only with an intellectually challenging and inspiring work of art, but also with a glimpse of evanescent hope.”
Marilyn Wedge, Huffington Post, 13 October 2011
 
“Gregory Bateson taught us how to stop having the most fundamental old ideas: the static, separating, reductionist fictions that dis-integrate an integrated world. Nora Bateson's beautiful portrait of her father's key insights is a stunningly effective antidote for a new generation that now needs his wisdom more than ever.”
Amory B. Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute
 
"An Ecology of Mind is a spell-binding, lyrical, and very important film..."
Rex Weyler - Co-Founder, Greenpeace International
 
 
Awards for the film:
Gold for Best Documentary, Spokane International Film Festival, 2011
Audience Award Winner, Best Documentary, Santa Cruz Film Festival, 2011
Winner, Media Ecology Association, John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis, 2011