The three months up to the Dutch Design Week, eleven talented individuals and duo’s have been working towards a unique piece of work, crossing the boundaries of art, design, nature and technology. Varying from circular fashion towards water harvesting prototypes, the resulting works have one thing in common: they reflect on human interaction with water.

Shaakira Jassat (SA/NL)

Embracing Water

Embracing Water derives its inspiration from Bromeliad and Tillandsia plants which have been designed to capture water in harsh climates. Using these plants as a guide, Shaakira has been researching how urban architecture could start becoming more water sensitive.

Celine Jacobs (NL)

AWARE

With a simple recipe, a few attributes and a little time it’s possible to process green waste into wearable, natural and biodegradable material. Would you wear clothing made entirely of fruit and vegetables?

Joshua Kelly (IR)

Arboretum Digitalus

Irish Designer Joshua Kelly has launched his project Arboretum Digitalus: a new way to equally pay the trees for the oxygen they provide.   #paythetrees

arboretumdigitalus.com

Beatrice Alvestad Lopez (NO)

Resonances

Visual artist Beatrice Alvestad Lopez (NO) works in the intersection of ancient shamanistic traditions and modern revelations, that take form in land-based works and installations containing photo’s, residue and painting, inspired by looking at algae through a microscope.

Sunjoo Lee & Ko de Beer (KO, NL)

Machine in Flux- Wood

Sunjoo Lee and Ko de Beer are presenting Machine in Flux – Wood: an art installation in which a delicate drawing robot mimics the behaviour and form of trees. Their research continues with future possibilities of communicating with an actual tree to grow a drawing.

Monique van Gemert Smulders (NL)

Tea Meeting + rarity

Warm water for tea, attention to the world around you and listening to stories. ‘Tea Meeting’ is a social art project bringing people together from different cultural backgrounds, connected by the element ‘water’. The bowls symbolize peace and care, standing still by being together in a state of no requirements, surrounded by the hectic of everyday life. Monique wants to connect people to philosophize about the present, past and future. Her work ‘rarity’ is inspired by ancient curiosity cabinets, but has a futuristic twist.

Mathias Anger & Raphaël Golja (FR)

Harvested Coastlines

Melting ice caps increase sea water levels, whereas access to drinking water gets more and more problematic. Can we turn seawater into drinking water to fight this emerging problem? This prototype questions our relationship with water and raises awareness on the preciousness of this resource, while opening a discussion on the evolution of the coastlines and their purpose in the near future.

Moomal Shekhawat (IN)

Snow, Ash and Indus

Influenced by the politics of visibility, Moomal’s practice is embodied in material, fabric, clay and text. With Snow, Ash and Indus, she explores the relationship between memory and narratives, giving form to grief.

Karin de Jong (NL)

Sho(o)t of Tearstosterone

The image of the crying woman seems to be inextricably linked to female hysteria nowadays. However, a woman’s tears should be considered as a sign of strength rather than weakness, as they have the power to lower testosterone levels in men. This gun therefore functions like an ancient biological weapon for self-protection, since its bullets are filled with tears and seeds. As the bullets break upon impact, the released tears will not only cause testosterone levels to drop. They will also serve as a water supply for the seeds, resulting in beautiful flowers to shoot. (people can actually shoot the gun!) Thus turning the emotional battlefield into a vivid flowerfield.

Athina Koumparouli (GR)

More than Water, More than Rain, I Need Electricity

In a world of ever changing balances, where everything becomes less tangible, more abstract, things lose their physical form, natural elements lose their superficial power. New realities, new values, new ecosystems emerge.

The fountain is the symbol of this modern-human made-nature. It questions how we engage with our surroundings and redefines our reality. The means have changed but the intentions stay the same. Master nature, wish for more.

Fede Baroni (AR)

Waltic Way

Fede Baroni (AR) has been working with sustainable design since 2015. His project is a watch based on recycled. The project represents not just time, but also a new way to understand our environmental responsibility and how we could impact in every single person in order to make the change we need.