Ep. 008 _ Gretchen Bakke

Ep. 008 _ Gretchen Bakke

Author: Sean Lally October 17, 2016 Duration: 1:02:22

Gretchen Bakke is the author of 'The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future'. Gretchen Bakke holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Cultural Anthropology. Her work focuses on the chaos and creativity that emerges during social, cultural, and technological transitions. For the past decade she has been researching and writing about the changing culture of electricity in the United States. In addition to her work on electric power systems she has done research in the Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, and in Cuba. She is a former fellow in Wesleyan University's Science in Society Program, a former Fulbright fellow, and is currently an assistant professor of anthropology at McGill University. Born in Portland, Oregon, Bakke lives in Montreal.


In a world where the very ground we stand on and the bodies we inhabit are becoming malleable territories for design, Night White Skies offers a necessary space for conversation. Host Sean Lally guides these discussions, which venture far beyond traditional architectural discourse to ask what kind of future we are actually building. This podcast thrives on the friction and insight generated by bringing together an unexpected mix of voices-from philosophers and scientists to policy makers and science fiction authors. You’ll hear how a cultural anthropologist’s research on ritual intersects with a material scientist’s work on smart environments, or how a novelist’s vision of tomorrow clarifies the ethical dilemmas faced by urban planners today. Each episode is a deep, meandering exploration, avoiding easy answers in favor of nuanced, often surprising connections. The aim is to piece together a broader, more complex picture of the transformations currently unfolding around and within us. By engaging with such a diverse range of thinkers, the Night White Skies podcast doesn't just report on change; it actively participates in the difficult, essential work of imagining what comes next.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 108

Night White Skies
Podcast Episodes
088 _ Boris_Magrini _ 'Radical Gaming' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:10
This week is a conversation with curator Boris Magrini about the 'Radical Gaming' exhibition currently at the House of Electronic Arts (HEK) in Basel Switzerland. *** Night White Skies is a program about our design futur…
087 _ Margret Grebowicz _ 'Origin Stories' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:24
Margret Grebowicz is an environmental philosopher living in upstate New York. She is the author of four books--Mountains and Desire: Climbing vs. the End of the World, Whale Song, The National Park to Come, Why Internet…
086 _ Daniel Barber _ 'Climate Histories' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:17
Daniel A. Barber is Associate Professor and Chair of the PhD Program in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. His research and teaching narrate eco-critical histories of architecture and seek pathways into the…
085 _ Jackie Higgins _'Sentient' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:04
This week is a conversation with Jackie Higgins. Jackie is a television documentary director and writer, who read zoology at Oxford University, as a student of Richard Dawkins. She made wildlife films for a decade, for B…
084 _ Aubrey Anable _ 'Rehearsing Our Feelings' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:07
'Rehearsing our Feelings' When it comes to trying to plan for the future, various tools are used to help us with the process. If you have a series of appointments to attend in the coming months, you'll likely use a calen…
Ep. 083 _ Robert Markley_ 'Kim Stanley Robinson; [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:09
There is probably no bigger name in science fiction in the last 50 years than Kim Stanley Robinson. Robert Markley (who I'm speaking with today) wrote a book with that very title, 'Kim Stanley Robinson' that looks at his…
Ep._082 _ Stewart Hicks / Allison Newmeyer _'Character' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:37
What does it mean for architecture to have character? Stewart and Allison are co-founders of Design With Company, who's work is interested in concepts that are shared between architecture and literature, including: narra…
Ep. 081 _ Elena Manferdini _'Material Forms' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:15
Elena Manferdini, principal of Atelier Manferdini. She currently teaches at the Southern California Institute of Architecture SCI-Arc where she serves as the Graduate Programs Chair.
Ep. 080 _ Amy Brady _ 'Burning Worlds' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:35
Amy writes about arts, culture, and the environment. She is the Deputy Publisher of Guernica magazine and the Editor-in-Chief of the Chicago Review of Books, where she also writes a monthly column called "Burning Worlds.…
Ep. 079 _ Michael Benedikt _ 'Architecture Beyond Experience' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:33
Michael Benedikt is an ACSA Distinguished Professor of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Hal Box Chair in Urbanism and teaches design studio and architectural theory. He is a graduate…