DDW Impressions for Days

DDW #1 - First Day Impressions

I spent most of the time at Strijp-S section. Visited The Growing Pavillion and The Object is Absent exhibitions. The Growing Pavillion has a range of biodegradable, biophilic design products that are particularly interesting and on the verge of becoming mainstream, in a good way.

The Object is Absent exhibition could be considered speculative as it was trying to change our human-oriented world vision and narrative to a more object-oriented, heterarchical view. I attended a panel called What if we could we think ourselves as non-human systems, which felt like it was a cheap version of a meditation. overall I found it weak.

But at the exhibition one piece was particularly astonishing. The artist had spread olive oil with a range of spices on a piece of cloths with a couple of sour-dough breads for us to take the bread and dip it in olive oil and possibly in different spices. It was a very satisfying experience and the invitation to smell things and eating them was something I haven’t experienced at an exhibition before. It reminded me of the works of an interaction artist called ….. who uses food as his medium to break down the barriers of the white walled galleries and to bring people together.

Floriade Expo’s selection of products were like a cheap illusion of biophilic design, emphasizing mainstream once more.

DDW #2 - 2nd Day Impressions

Venues visited: BioArt Labs, Strijp T, Strijp S

Before BioLab I visited Yksi Expo, Broinest and Zero Waste Zone. I don’t have a lot of comments on these sections due to the exhibit’s industrial and monetized nature. It looked like it was trying to attract big money by using sustainability as the window shop.

Two of the works at BioLab was impressive. First, “Aquatecture” by Shaakira Jassat. The project was briefly about rethinking building blocks to collect, store or harvest water for symbiocene. The structures were inspired by creatures like Bromeliaceae, Tillandsia Genus and Namib Dessert Beetle.

The second one was Machine in Flux - Wood, a robot drawing tree rings by collecting data via a wind sensor. Tree rings reshape themselves in accordance with the climate, wind speed, moisture and other elements surrounding them. Thus the robot is able to adjust and change the style of drawings based on changing data. It uses sumi ink which was obvious by its look. It was sentimental and meticulous at the same time. I loved it. I met the artist who is a graduate from DAE.

After Bio Lab I visited Strip T+R to take a look at the Embassy of Sustainable Design. There I visited the ArtEZ’s fashion production booth to see the impacts of different materials and production methods in textile industry on sustainability.

DDW #3 - 3rd Day Impressions

Venues visited: TAC (Temporary Art Centre, Veem, Van Abbe Museum)

Just finished TAC. Works that I remember: ilyayli.com, Dare to Feel, Ukraine: Affair With Earth - Atomik Vodka, MOCA Chinese Religious Tradition, Empathy Jacket: OK Dementia, The Aleppo News Data Installation

Dare to Feel is a holistic project. The piece of furniture is designed to create interaction amongst its users. I met with the designer and immediately understood how interaction is at the core of her works. The smells that were created to accompany the furniture are diffused via a piece of wood that is embedded into the lamp that is again created by the designer.

We talked about how we often disregard olfactory senses and take it for granted. I mentioned how experiencing artwork in form of visuality is not enough for me anymore, that I am more attracted to what I can eat and/or smell, we agreed that we need more sensual works that speak to all of our senses and not just thought-inducing or mind-provoking work or any definition that sparks ideas when we see something.

VEEM: Working Hard or Hardly Working - group show that I thought truly one of the rare pieces of radical design. Esther Vane’s Home is Where The Art Is piece.

The Team Human Shield “terrain of protest and activism is fertile ground for art and design”

How can you skills contribute to a post capitalist transition?

Emma van der Leest - Form Follows Organism

Genetic manipulation of structural color in bacterial colonies

DDW #4 - 4th Day Impressions

Venues visited: Van Abbe Museum (see post for Van Abbe), D10, D11, DAE Graduation Show

Design Academy Eindhoven - will be continued tmr.

DDW #5 - 5th Day Impressions

Venues visited DAE Graduation Show, Sectie-C

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