In the Age of Post-Drought

the Aquatic State

The program In The Age of the Post-Drought focuses on the global water issue influenced by climate change. The upcoming water scarcity is seen as the greatest threat to life on earth in the 21st century.

The damage caused by water shortages is already visible in nature and everyday life: numerous plant and animal species are disappearing, while biotopes are deteriorating. The food chain is becoming unbalanced, threatening organic life forms and essential resources. The World Economic Forum has identified water scarcity as the greatest threat to global development, and according to the World Resources Institute, 37 countries face instability in their freshwater supplies. Another major risk is rising sea levels, which endanger low-lying areas. Discussions around flooding, pollution, and water scarcity are becoming increasingly prevalent. The severe drought of the summer of 2018 in the Northern Hemisphere is one of the key indicators of a new era that we must now prepare for.

For both humans and nature, water availability can no longer be taken for granted in the face of population growth, rising living standards, and climate change. The water cycle consists of a series of interconnected natural processes occurring in different forms: clouds, plants, trees, groundwater, lakes, and seas all play a role in this cycle, from distribution to consumption. However, human activities—including agriculture, industry, transportation, sanitation, and waste production—disrupt and degrade this cycle.

In the Age of Post-Drought explored how modest or ambitious design projects, as well as artistic, (bio)technological, or hybrid approaches, can contribute to research on water-related issues. The exhibition examines water from multiple perspectives, including scarcity, pollution, flooding, and desertification.

The development of work by participants was central, along with interdisciplinary research in the working fields, experimentation, presentations to a wide audience and intensive communication about the activities. The programs went on tour in different compositions and forms. In the Age of Post-Drought was shown at Transnatural, at Oerol, Into The Great Wide Open, Eye, DDW and at the CID Grand-Hornu museum in Belgium.

exhibition

In the Age of Post-Drought

01-03-2019 / 25-07-2021

The exhibition in Amsterdam marked the start of several art and design projects that continued to develop during the nine-month residency period of Transnatural. Residents were Robertina Šebjanič, Arnoud Meijer, Marco Barotti and Joep van Lieshout.  

The various works were presented at festivals on the Wadden Islands and at Dutch Design Week (2019). For the ITGWO festival, Meijer and Šebjanič developed a meditative light and sound installation that transforms underwater sound pollution in the seas around the island into light- and soundscapes. Workshops were held throughout the day in which participants made recordings of underwater sounds in the North Sea and Wadden Sea to incorporate into the installation. In addition, the Clams project by Marco Barotti consisted of 80 artificial shells scattered across the Wadden Sea dike of Terschelling at Oerol festival. The shells translated the water quality of the Wadden Sea live into sound and movement (see video recording at the bottom of the page).  

In the intervening period, this residency and other projects (process) were insightful parts of the exhibition at Lijnbaansgracht and at the CID Grand-Hornu museum.

Participants
Jólan van der Wiel/ Robertina Šebjanič, Arnoud Meijer/ Marco Barotti/ Gabriele Diamanti/ Creating Water Foundation/ Zoro Feigl/ Joep van Lieshout/ Sara Nuytemans/ Lennart Lahuis/ LOLA Landscape Architects/ Niels Stomps/ Bio-Integrated Design Lab/ Shneel Malik/ Jane Withers Studio/ Andy Gracie/ Studio Sway/ Frederik de Wilde/ Ulysse Martell/ Julien Poidevin/ Chloé Dailly/ CTRLZAK/ Isabelle Daëreon/ Assemble Mass / Jason Kim/ Julien Poidevin / Maze de Boer

Centre d’innovation et de Design (CID Grand-Hornu)
Date: 21 Mar - 25 Jul 2021
Address: Rue Sainte-Louise 82, Boussu, Belgium

Dutch Design Week
Date: Oct. 9 - 27, 2019
Address: Campina site, Eindhoven

Into the Great Wide Open
Date: Aug. 29 - Sep. 1, 2019
Location: Vlieland

Oerol
Date: June 14 - 23, 2019
Location: Terschelling

Transnatural
Date: Mar. 1 - Dec. 20, 2019
Open: Tue. - Fri., 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. / Sat. 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Address: Lijnbaansgracht 148a, Amsterdam

Supported by
Transnatural Label, Creative Industry Stimulation Fund, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, Mondriaan Fund, Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, BankGiro Lottery Fund