| Your Name | Ollie Cotsaftis |
|---|---|
| Email Address | olivier.cotsaftis@rmit.edu.au |
| Cohort Assignment | Australia Online, Winter-Spring 2024 |
| 1. What do you see as your primary work at this stage of your life? | My research on 'designing conditions for coexistence', which translates into the design of new regenerative materials for design and manufacturing. |
| 2. What role do you see as yours to play? | Learning through doing, unlocking potentials, relationship building, advocacy and engagement, showcasing new knowledge and possibilities through practice |
| 3. What goals or aims do you have in regard to the above? | Showcasing that an alternative material palette is possible |
| 4. Where do you feel your next arenas for personal growth are? | Learning how to be more present (I live in the future a lot) |
| 5. And for professional growth? | The gathering part of leadership (feel I have the guiding/visioning part covered) |
| 6. What have you invested in to get you where you are? | I'm genuinely enjoying what I do and I don't think I could do anything else so it doesn't feel like an 'investment'. Feels like I spent the last 25/30 years becoming who I was supposed to be, if that makes sense. |
| 7. What fields of learning and which thinkers have been important in your life? | My work sits at the intersection of design, biology and entrepreneurship — mainly through research and innovation (academia and industry). I'm a big fan of Quentin Meillasoux's speculative materialism philosophy: "If everything is contingent, things do not have to be the way they are". Meaning that radical innovation is possible. I've spent quite a bit of time with Michel Foucault's thinking on alternatives as well (or heterotopias). I find Latour's critique of technosolutionism and Jakob von Uexküll's concept of the 'Umwelt' very interesting. |
| 8. Can you frame your philosophy or cosmology of life? What role(s) do humans play in it? | Life is rare, and thus precious. All life, human and nonhuman, forms a single, diverse living system on Earth (very rationally, life may also exist elsewhere). Contemporary issues started when humans disconnected from this web of life. I am neither religious nor dogmatically rational. 'Energy' is everywhere and perhaps we should simply admit that we do not have all the answers — probably never will. Am I a stoic? Perhaps. A respectful epicurean, most likely. |
| Date Created | July 11, 2024 |