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Ana María Durán Calisto & Sanford Kwinter Ana María Durán's work can be seen to fit squarely within the tradition begun with Alexander von Humboldt whose exacting documentations and measurements - specifically of South American geography - revealed more fully than ever before the internal structure and systematics of natural forms, and especially the system of relationships that maintain them. In her recent essay on the Kichwa onto-ecology,2 Durán invokes the intersection of bird cultures and human linguistic ones that creates a dense matrix in which ancestral and practical knowledge are embedded not only in each physical component of the environment - every contact element in the bird's universe - but also in the mesh of meanings endlessly activated by language and social interactions. Durán's remarks to the online community are presented here, with an introduction and postscript by Sanford Kwinter. The concept of spiral time, as Durán presents it with respect to her work on Amazonian culture, or, if extended, spiral epistemology, operates as a keystone ontological principle for the world that we are seeking to understand. [Extracted from the article]

Designers who wish to develop should be open to experiencing events and be willing to be changed by them. They should not hesitate to ask questions, and should create space for new ideas and for the ideas of others. They must be willing to take risks, and should not actively seek to avoid failure. They should be wary of criticism and judgment, and should not try to be fashionable. They must be aware that growth is only possible as a product of history, which gives growth a direction.