Installation design: (c) noumenon Picture (c) J. Berghmans
Noumenon Lab User Id: 2287 noumenondesign@gmail.com
noumenon was founded in 2003 by Carl De Smet as a medium to advance collaborative efforts in art, science, design and architecture. Next to its institutional partners and supporters (the Department of Metallurgy, Materials & Engineering of the Catholic University of Leuven, the St. Lucas Department of Architecture and the De Naeyer Institute of Engineering), noumenon also works closely with individuals like Dolores Hulan, a choreographer/dancer, and Pierre de Gelder, a writer and 3D video maker. noumenon's main body of work is the application of nascent materials: SMPs - Shape Memory Polymers - and SMAs - Shape Memory Alloys. Under the influence of light or heat, these materials can reshape to forms that have been pre-programmed into them. These materials are both sensors and reactors, both muscle and nerve: a mechanism and a structure at once. noumenon is developing prototypes destined to become mass-produced items in the near future. One example is a small cube that can be exposed to sunlight or heat. The box will then metamorphose into a seat. It can then possibly be modelled into something else or return to its programmed seat shape if it is once again exposed to a strong light or heat source. The work in collaboration with Dolores Hulan is a close interplay of dance and technology in performative installations that work like small-scale isolated systems. In these closed worlds, a new sensuality can be brought to life by the isolation and extraction of essential features of the physical universe: a procedure strongly reminiscent of laboratory experiments. Noumenon's forays in new materials and technology are inspired by scientific insights in physics and biology and rooted in social, political and artistic viewpoints, which are both part and parcel of its work. Carl De Smet and Pierre de Gelder share a lot of common ground in the sense of a "terra incognita" that they jointly explore in theoretical jam sessions and endless brainstorms. These give rise to texts, futuristic projects and videos based on individual or shared basic ideas. Currently they are developing “Oklosutra”, a series of short films illustrating the strength and inventiveness of geological and biological processes of construction and a remake of their first video production “First Star from the Sun”, the tale of a tower with a reflective surface that mirrors events four years after their occurrence. This produces spectacular juxtapositions of climatic and personal events. It is a speculative story about nanotechnology and its relevance to large-scale constructions.
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