Present Work
Kris De Decker is the creator and author of "Low-tech Magazine", a website that is published in several languages. Low-tech Magazine refuses to assume that every problem has a high-tech solution.
Low-tech Magazine was founded in 2007. Since 2018, it runs on a solar powered server that goes offline when the weather is bad. Since 2019, Low-tech Magazine also appears in print.
Low-tech Magazine has 250,000 unique visitors per month and more than 40,000 subscribers. More than 5,000 books have been sold.
Shorter posts appear on "No Tech Magazine", which is online since 2009.
De Decker is also the co-creator of the Human Power Plant, an artistic project that investigates the possibilities of human energy production in a modern society. In cooperation with Melle Smets. Since 2017.
Earlier Work
Writer for the DEMAND Centre at Lancaster University (UK), which researches energy demand as an outcome of social practices. 2016-2020.
Co-author of the book "Energie in 2030" ("Energy in 2030"), a project of the "Rathenau Instituut", which advises the Dutch government on challenges related to science and technology. 2010-2011.
Author of "Stralingswarmte: gezonde warmte met minder energie" (English summary), Eburon, 2015. The book was commissioned by De Twaalf Ambachten, a research centre for simple and affordable ecological technology in the Netherlands.
In-depth articles on science, technology, energy and environment for newspapers and magazines in Belgium: "Knack", "De Tijd" and "De Standaard". From 1996 to 2007.
Personal Life
Kris De Decker was born in Antwerp (Belgium) and moved to Barcelona (Spain) in 2007.
The image on the right was taken by Marie Verdeil.
Contact
kris [at] lowtechmagazine [dot] com
Talks & Workshops:
(This list is no longer being updated.)
Futurs Pluriels: Low Tech!, Plurality University Network, September 11, 2019, Paris, France.
Look Back, Move Forward, The Conference, Malmö, Sweden, August 27, 2019.
Urban Tour: Human Power Plant, Platform GRAS, Performing Arts Festival Groningen, the Netherlands, August 16-17, 2019.
IAM Barcelona, The Quantumness of Archipelagos, Barcelona, Spain, March 21-23 2019.
Bits & Baüme, Die Konferenz für Digitalisierung und Nachhaltigkeit, Berlin, Germany, November 2018. Debate + presentation of the solar powered website.
Crossing Border, The Hague, November 2018. Presentation of the Human Power Plant, with Melle Smets.
Live without airplanes, University of Hull, Institute of Applied Ethics, UK, October 2018.
Radical Networks, Berlin, Germany, October 2018. A presentation of the solar powered website by Marie Otsuka and Roel Roscam Abbing.
Lowtech Lab, Archipel, Antwerp, Belgium, September 2018
Border Sessions Tech Culture Festival, The Hague, June 2018
Rethinking Comfort, 10th Windsor Conference, Windsor, UK, April 2018
Workshops Human Power Plant, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, November 2017
Preview Human Power Plant, Antwerp, Belgium, October 2017
Labland, Ghent, Belgium, July 2017
PLEA 2017, Edinburgh, Scotland, July 2017
NODE17: Designing Hope, Frankfurt, Germany, June 2017
Setmana de la Ciència Crítica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Barcelona, Spain, May 2017
II Congrés de Sobirania Tecnològica, Barcelona, Spain, March 2017
"Stralingsverwarming", Trend 21, Rotterdam, Netherlands, March 2017
"Open Forum on Technology", Summer School on Degrowth and Environmental Justice, Can Decreix, Cerbère, France, July 2016
"Back to the Middle Ages?", Nocturne Anno 1465, Domein Raversyde, Oostend, Belgium, July 2016
"Spark Lecture: Low-tech Solutions for High-tech Problems", Climate KIC, Utrecht, the Netherlands, June 2016
"Low-tech Solutions", The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands, November 2015
"Low-tech Cities", Border Sessions, The Hague, The Netherlands, November 2015
"The prospective of forgotten technology", DEMAND Institute, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom, May 2015
"Low-tech Solutions", System D Academy, Sandberg Institute, Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, February 2015
"Productontwikkeling: hightech of lowtech?", Workshop Product Design, Antwerp University, January 2015
"Ever considered low-tech?", FEA Research Symposium, Ghent University, December 2014, Ghent, Belgium.
"Low-tech Solutions for a Sustainable Society", Capitalism Catch-22, IMPAKT Festival, November 2013, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
"Smart Technologies: Possibly High or Low", Make a Difference (MaD) 2013, January 2013, Hong Kong.
"Technologies Lost and Found" (workshop), Make a Difference (MaD) 2013, January 2013, Hong Kong.
"The prospective of forgotten technology", ARTMAP, December 2012, Paris, France.
"Energie anders bekeken: geschiedenis inspireert tot een duurzame energiestrategie", Koninklijke Vlaamse Ingenieursvereniging, November 2012, Antwerp, Belgium.
"Lowtech creativiteit en innovatie", Gent BC Business Café, November 2012, Ghent, Belgium.
"Energie in 2030 - maatschappelijke keuzes van nu", Rathenau Instituut & Energie+, October 2011, The Hague, the Netherlands.
"LIFT France 2011: Be Radical", FING, July 2011, Marseille, France.
"Duurzame filantropen", Flemish government, Departement of Environment, October 2010, Brussels, Belgium.
The solar powered website. In collaboration with Marie Otsuka & Roel Roscam Abbing.
Low-tech Magazine: The printed website. Designed by Lauren Traugott-Campbell.
The Human Power Plant. Drawing by Melle Smets.