Too Little, Too Late at BlueCity
Graduation Show | Chain of Events
Did you miss this event?
Watch the recording of the event below
Wednesday November 4, 2020
Too little Too Late; an online event where a new generation designers and artists question the global warming, the ‘Problem from Hell’. These graduates do not provide a tailor-made solution, but because of their critical view and imagination they offer new prospects.
With their work, they question our patterns of consumption and waste. How can we improve our relationship with our environment? What is emotional sustainability? How do we relate to nature? What if we enrich nature with technology, does this offer the possibility of creating an environment in the city, as nature would have (or does)? During this evening, a variety of artworks will be shows and discussed; What are the underpinning ideas of this new generation of artists and designers? In conclusion, an evening that will not only inspires but also offer new insights, whether this will be hopeful or less hopeful scenarios.
The evening will be moderated by Michelle Kasprzak.
Other contributions will come from Emma van der Leest, Ivan Henriques and Dirk Osinga (Too Little, Too Late 2019 report by Dirk Osinga.)
Projects by the following graduates
Veerle van Herk (Illustration, Social practices, Minor Honours /Visual Culture) will talk about the making of the short film Nordsjøen Dike.
In February 2020 the Dutch Oceanographer Sjoerd Groeskamp published his plan for the so-called Northern ‘European Enclosure Dam’.This 600 km long dike, that encloses the North Sea protects our small country from the rising sea levels.
For Veerle van Herk, this plan formed the ultimate symbol of the engineerable world we live in. How far should we shape the earth in our fight against climate change? What if the Netherlands really starts building this dike? What if the North Sea becomes a lake? By mixing fact and fiction, Veerle creates possible future scenarios.
In the project Rendering Nature by Leon Spekken (Advertising & Beyond, Autonomous Practices, Minor Hacking) rendering can be defined as: displaying, translating and giving back. All synonyms together make this project comprehensible. Rendering nature displays nature, it translates into our frequencies of understanding and it gives a piece of nature back at the same time.
Unfortunately for now, we take more than we give. Nature disappears. The number of trees in the Netherlands shrinks by 1% annually. A decrease that is proportionally twice as large as in the Amazon. Plans are currently to log 1231 hectares versus 304 hectares of new forest. But do we actually know what we cut down?
Tim van Hooft (Graphic Design, Autonomous Practices, Minor Digital Craft) project Hic Sunt Dracones is a speculative, first-person online experience which explores an archaeological site, set in a distant future. In this project Tim investigates the value of the monster figure throughout history, as a means to better interpret questions that are difficult to understand and overcome. The project explores the meaning, impact, and visual language of potential 21st. century monsters and how they can help us to understand and critique Anthropocene crises such as climate change, mass population and global extinctions.
Nicky Vollebregt (Product Design, Autonomous Practices, minor Hacking) a material-focused designer, she brings new materials and products into the world. She feels it is necessary to reflect on how she can do this in a sustainable way. However, in her practice, she feels restricted within common sustainable material design approaches, which often are centred around circularity, biodegradability, recyclability and reusability. Additionally, these approaches can often overlook product lifespan, a big determining factor in the conscious use of resources.
For that reason, she has researched the theme of emotional durability, an approach of reducing consumption and the waste of resources by improving the relationship between consumers and products.
Ceci Sariol (Master Interior Architecture: Research + Design),
This future Ceci has traveled from a technologically and spiritually balanced society where work is no longer intrinsic to survival. In this timeline, there has been a shifting of planetary goals to that which prioritize sustainability with the Earth, as well as with each other. The animated story offers impressions of how this future feels and functions, as well as informing about the larger societal workings. Read more.
Vivian Huizenga (Lifestyle Transformation Design, Commercial Practices, Minor New Frontier)
Many of us do not yet want to see artificial nature as a replacement for real nature, we cannot lay the two on top of each other, but perhaps in the future, we can lay them next to each other. What if technology alongside current nature in cities can offer extra satisfaction, benefits for our health and depth of experience? Can technology seduce the brain to experience the original nature in a domestic environment? Stepmother nature shows a possible future where the viewer himself can decide whether the image is a utopian or a dystopian one. Read more.
Kaylee Bos (Fine Art, Autonomous Practices, Minor Public and Private)
Within Kaylee's work, she tries to capture the beauty and infinite complexity of the natural world, networks and landscapes found in them, which we are unable to see with the naked eye or which are outside of our hearing range. She states that we live in an age of overpopulation and mass destruction and therefore it is extremely important to take root again in the soil from which we once evolved. Read more.
Maaike van Papeveld (Product Design, Commercial Practices, Minor Honours /Visual Culture)
Maaike developed the workbox for the reflective practitioner. This educative kit includes a workbook and tools and is developed to assist design students and young practitioners on their search for more effective design practices. With this project, Maaike explores a possible answer the question: ‘How can we facilitate methodological exploration among students and young designers?’ and is driven by the idea that new approaches are needed for the socially engaged designer to adequately anticipate contemporary and future issues. Read more.
This online event is organised by the Willem de Kooning Academy and hosted by BlueCity.
This online event is a part of the online Climate Weeks Amsterdam and Rotterdam and the Climate festival Groenlicht, organised by Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.