Come and join us in this screening of AN ECOLOGY OF MIND and explore Gregory Bateson's life and his interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexities of our world. Through thought-provoking interviews, archival footage, and his daughter, Nora Bateson's insights, this documentary invites us to rethink our relationship with the Earth and embrace a more holistic perspective on life.

WHAT IS MIND FOOD FILMS?

Mind Food Films is a series of film screenings from the Permaculture Education Institute. All films screened have been picked to be food for thought - expanding your ideas of the world we know is possible and delving into the various aspects of systems thinking.

Films in this series:

Mindwalk - an exploration of systems thinking through dialogue between a poet, a scientist and a politician
- 24 April 9am AEST (America time-friendly)
- 24 April 7pm AEST (Europe/Asia/Africa time-friendly)

Symbiotic Earth - the life and ideas of radical ecological scientist, Lynn Margulis
- 1 May 9am AEST (America time-friendly)
- 1 May 7pm AEST (Europe/Asia/Africa time-friendly)

Regenerating Life - how to cool the planet, feed the world, and live happily ever after!
- 8 May 9am AEST (America time-friendly)
- 8 May 7pm AEST (Europe/Asia/Africa time-friendly)

ABOUT THE FILM

A daughter's loving film portrait of one of the 20th century's most influential thinkers, Gregory Bateson, anthropologist, systems theorist and ecologist.

AN ECOLOGY OF MIND is a portrait of Gregory Bateson, celebrated anthropologist, philosopher, author, naturalist, and systems theorist. His story is lovingly told by his youngest daughter, Nora, with footage from Gregory's own films shot in the 1930s with his wife Margaret Mead in Bali and New Guinea, along with photographs, filmed lectures, and interviews.

Gregory Bateson was a man who studied the interrelationships of the complex systems we live in with scientific rigor and enormous integrity. His theories, such as "the double bind" and "the pattern which connects", continue to impact the fields of anthropology, psychiatry, information science, cybernetics, urban planning, biology, and ecology, challenging people to think in new ways.

Through this film, Nora Bateson sets out to show that his ideas are not just fodder for academic theory, but can help instruct a way of life. She presents his thinking using a richly personal perspective, focusing on the stories Bateson used to present his ideas and how the beauty of life itself provided the framework of his life's pursuits.

Hoping to inspire its audience to see their lives within a larger system, glistening with symmetry, play, and metaphor, AN ECOLOGY OF MIND is an invitation to ask the kinds of questions that could help thread the world back together from the inside.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Nora Bateson is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and educator, as well as President of the International Bateson Institute, based in Sweden. Her work asks the question “How we can improve our perception of the complexity we live within, so we may improve our interaction with the world?”. An international lecturer, researcher and writer, Nora wrote, directed and produced the award-winning documentary, An Ecology of Mind, a portrait of her father, Gregory Bateson. Her work brings the fields of biology, cognition, art, anthropology, psychology, and information technology together into a study of the patterns in ecology of living systems. Her book, Small Arcs of Larger Circles, released by Triarchy Press, UK, 2016 is a revolutionary personal approach to the study of systems and complexity.

The IBI integrates the sciences, arts and professional knowledge to create a qualitative inquiry of the integration of life. As President, Nora directs research projects at the IBI that require multiple contexts of research and interdependent processes. Asking, “How can we create a context in which to study the contexts?”, an impressive team of international thinkers, scientists and artists have been brought together by the IBI to generate an innovative form of inquiry, which Nora coined “Transcontextual Research”.

As an educator she has developed curricula for schools in Northern California and produced and directed award winning multimedia projects on intercultural and ecological understanding. Her work, which has been presented at the world’s top universities, is described as “offering audiences a lens through which to see the world that effects not only the way we see, but also the way we think”. Nora’s work in facilitating cross-disciplinary discussions is part of her research into what she calls “the ecology of the conversation”. Her speaking engagements include keynote addresses and lectures at international conferences and universities on a wide range of topics that span the fields of anti-fascism, ecology, education, the arts, family therapy, leadership, and many more aspects of advocacy for living systems — she travels between conversations in different fields bringing multiple perspectives into view to reveal larger patterns.

Memberships and awards: Chairman International Bateson Institute, Associate of The Taos Institute, Board Member: Human Systems Journal of Systemic Practice, Tallberg Foundation, Fellow of Lindsifarne Foundation, Bateson Idea Group (BIG), Club of Rome, Great Transition Foundation, Human Potential Foundation, Awards: Sustainable Thompkins Ecology Award, Winner Spokane Film Festival, Winner Santa Cruz Film Festival, Media Ecology Award.

THIS IS A ‘PAY WHAT YOU CAN’ EVENT - WHAT HAPPENS TO THE MONEY?

Whilst this event is for free, we do warmly welcome your generous donation. We always send 100% of all donations received via our registered charity, Ethos Foundation. Any donation received from this event will go towards permaculture food forest nurseries and planting in East African refugee camps and locally-led classes to show youth how to set up and maintain a perennial food forest. People have been living in these camps for decades - perennial food systems are so much more reliable, robust, and abundant, and help to fight the hunger and poverty experienced every day.

HOST: MORAG GAMBLE, PERMACULTURE EDUCATION INSTITUTE

ABOUT MORAG GAMBLE

Morag Gamble is the founder of the Permaculture Education Institute teaching permaculture educators and designers on six continents. She has lived for a quarter of a century in an award-winning ecovillage and has taught at leading ecological learning centres such as Schumacher College. She is also the creator of the

Sense-Making in a Changing World Podcast, and the Our Permaculture LifeBLOG and YouTube collectively viewed over 10 million times. Morag also hosts the Ethos Fellowship - a 12-month youth leadership program, Ethos Foundation - a registered charity offering free permaculture education for refugees, and mentors and hosts the award-winning global Permayouth.

SPONSOR: PERMACULTURE EDUCATION INSTITUTE

ABOUT THE SPONSOR

Permaculture Education Institute, based at Crystal Waters Ecovillage on Gubbi Gubbi country, offers programs to support people worldwide to become teachers of permaculture and to activate permaculture communities. The Institute hosts regular global conversations exploring one-planet living and earth restoration - through film, podcasts, masterclasses, discussion forums and many courses.

The all-inclusive Permaculture Educators Program is an in-depth online course and global learning community combining the Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) and Permaculture Teacher Certificate, plus permaculture business modules. Start anytime.
Our foundational yearlong online Permaculture Design Course - will help you to create an amazing design for a place of your choice. Start anytime.
The Incredible Edible Garden is our self-paced 6-module online permaculture gardening course