Dr Justin Westgate – Field notes

Hack the Crisis NZ was a collaborative innovation response to COVID-19. I volunteered as a team coach for the weekend hackathon event. In this short reflection, I outline my experience of this online national collaboration, and turn to some of the questions that have arisen for me around the methodological effectiveness of such events in addressing complex issues.

Within the space of a week my world has been inverted. From experiencing unseasonably warm autumnal days on Australia’s east coast I’ve been transported to a cool spring in eastern Germany where the daytime highs are half the night-time lows from where I’ve come.

Dismaland Bemusement Park was a temporary art exhibition curated by street artist Banksy, themed as ‘a sinister twist on Disneyland.’ I made a visit whilst in the UK.

Futureperfect Festival was an event comprised of conversations, experiences, and explorations around themes of cities, technology, food, culture and sustainability.

I attended a week-long design workshop on an island in the Swedish archipelago. xskool Grinda was an experiment in socio-ecological design.

Fieldnotes from the 3D Printshow London 2014.