How to Change the World? An Intervention

How to Ch ge

the World?

Edited by Susanne Eskens

How to Ch ge

the World?

Edited by Susanne Eskens

Contents Susanne Eskens How to change the world? An intervention Shevia Limmen No Guts No Glory!

Marjanne van Helvert The Recycling Collection Renée Boute MIKS Geert Bartelink Based on a True Story Iris Kloppenburg Designed by Microorganisms Jaap Warmenhoven Soon now Hannah Kindler & Moulsari Jain Objets d’art Joran Koster Converted Bicycles Philipp Weber Anthracite Liesbet Rabbinge Local Global Solutions Ralf Josef Reducing Efficiency Maria Mancini Dear Mr. Present State Mia Vertin THE MAKE BELIEF What’s the Deal A Transnational Project on Young Urban Cultures

SUSANNE ESKENS

How to change the world?

An intervention Designers tend to look at the world from a multitude of perspectives; trained to approach everything from different angles to find the best solution or right form, we have the opportunity to rise above existing patterns and systems, and create something new from there.

Creating these new products and services happens more so than we might even realise. The entire world is designed in a certain way: the good and the bad. Much thought is being put into every little thing that surrounds us. Just take a quick look around right now and consider all the elements that have not in any way been created for you by someone else 1.

As consumers, we are nudged towards buying our happiness by buying new products as much as we are in the direction of a more healthy and sustainable living. In this respect, the role of designers has grown considerably over the last decades: encompassing more and more of our daily lives. This prominent role in our society brings design to the forefront of global developments, implying a shift in how we should perceive these creative practices.

As designer and thinker Saša Kerkoš said in her workshop on compassion in design; ‘Your Design is Your Responsibility.’ In other words, we should always be the true owner of what we put out into the world, be it ideas, words or new products.

In spring 2012, I was asked by the Kulturreferat Munich to join What’s the Deal and create a Dutch program to be part of the international art project on urban culture and sustainability.

Recently rediscovering design as my first love and always working on the cross section of different worlds, I decided on combining the two and design a series of Art Interventions.

In a time where ‘sustainability’ is widely discussed, promoted and misused, I questioned people’s actual understanding of the issue. What do we know about the challenges the world faces today when it comes to our environment, our resources and global inequality? And where does sustainability come into the picture?

Art Intervention brings together a group of international designers and artists from various backgrounds to approach the idea of sustainability – the practical as well as the conceptual side - together. The program is designed to create a disruptive space to question the role of design in society as we inevitably move towards a more sustainable future.

The first Intervention was a weeklong program in February 2015 filled with talks, workshops and masterclasses, mixing the different design-worlds with insights from socio-political movements, global economy and entrepreneurs creating business from their ideals for a better world. The program introduced the designers and artists to new ideas and methodologies from science and philosophy, and created a momentum for them to go back to the core of what being a designer (or an artist, or both…) is all about. To stand still - if only for a second – reflect, and then go back to connect the dots.

Together, we discussed questions such as: How can we travel beyond ‘the green hype’ and move towards a more personal sustainable way of living? And what role does design play in these processes? And most importantly, how do we see our own role as designers and artists when it comes to creating a better world?

‘How to Change the World?’ was the motto with which we entered this journey together: each free to create their own path. This little question has resulted in a series of answers, consisting of more questions, statements, dilemmas and new concepts for sustainable living, working and designing.

This book is much more than just the collection of all of these answers. In fact, there is no doubt that - whilst reading the about the work of these designers and artist - you might find yourself disagreeing, wondering about the consequences of certain proposals and even thinking about your own role in all of this.

Good! Consider yourself part of the next Art Intervention.

I didn’t find any either. You might consider going out for a walk in the woods, on the beach or somewhere else outside sometime.

1

Susanne Eskens is an Amsterdam based creative strategist and conceptual designer working on the cross section of culture, media and society. Infinitely curious, she is always looking for that little space where different ideas, insights and methods come together to make the real magic happen. Eskens is fascinated by the role of language & creating meaning by telling stories. As program coordinator for the Dutch cultural organization Coolpolitics, she designed the Art Interventions as part of the international What’s the Deal art project on urban culture and sustainability.

SHEVIA LIMMEN

No Guts No Glory!

The demand to ‘do it all different’ is great. Our ‘old way of thinking’ ensures we remain entrenched in fossilized systems and patterns. Or as Einstein put it: “We cannot solve problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” So it’s high time for action – don’t just talk the talk.

Unfortunately, the world is not a game with a big switch somewhere that we can flip in order to make everything change. And even if there were one to be found with a secret code, we wouldn’t be able to handle such a radical change. It’s all about the little steps that disrupt existence, show us alternative ways, and have an impact.

As far as I’m concerned, the modern creators of this world have an important role to play here.

People who are able to examine critically, but who also dare to dream and search for new ways without completely ignoring the past. They are the people with the power to think differently, to reveal the beauty of life and to surprise us again and again. This generation has returned to the fundaments of seventies hippie ideals and hacked the broken dreams of their parents with the help of modern day technology and tools.

“Strongly visionary ideals and sustainable technological awareness are currently becoming the model for art and design initiatives,” Ellen Bokkinga (cultural thinker).

But who are these modern hippies? What are their ideals and how do they think they can attain them? I am working on finding all the designers trying to make the world a better place; what are their goals and how do they want to reach them?

Because if they don’t do it, who will? It is high time we creatives become aware of our power and dare to take on more responsibility. I am strongly convinced that the combined strength of every individual will lead to something we have not yet even dared to dream of. I may be completely wrong, but sitting back and waiting until it’s too late is not an option, as far as I’m concerned. For now, I prefer to focus on a better world that can also be beautiful, tough, sexy, and provocative.

What do we have to do to make this happen?

“I always wondered why somebody didn’t do something about that, then I realized I am somebody,” Lily Tomlin (comedian).

Recession Chair Oxidised

“My personal favourite is the Bronze Age collection by Dutch designer Tjep. The Bronze Age collection contains all handcrafted pieces. By using the precious material bronze, these items are implicitly sustainable; they will not be easily discarded, but most likely melted down and transformed into something new.�

Bronze Age Chair

Shevia Limmen is a Haarlem based designer and creative thinker with a passion for cutting-edge art and technology. As our vulnerable world of today and its complexities give rise to many questions and uncertainties, Limmen uses stories to inspire and offer new solutions for contemporary challenges. She sees a new world is just around the corner and believes it is up to the artists and creative of this world to give it color together. In her work at Studio Locomoco, Limmen connects artists and designers with challenges from the business world.

MARJANNE VAN HELVERT

The Recycling Collection As a textile designer creating fabrics, interior objects such as carpets and curtains, and fashion items such as clothes and accessories, I am very much focused on material. In my case, form often follows the properties of a material.

I like objects to be readable; their material context to be traceable in the design itself. This attitude leads to a growing consciousness of the preciousness of our natural resources, the value of labour and craftsmanship, and the delicate position of both designer and consumer in our post-industrial – capitalist – society. I like to work with materials that do not put extra pressure on our natural and social environment. In general, I work with used materials that will have a history and display traces of use and repair. Building upon the aesthetics of these used materials, I have written a manifesto called ‘Dirty Design’. I use the word dirty both to show the dirty reality that surrounds us, hiding underneath the clean, pretty surface of things, and as a proposal for a different set of aesthetics that allows for a more conscious approach to both the design and the consumption of products.

At Schmiede 2014, I started working on a few fashion items made from used clothes. I was inspired by the variety of talented, creative people that participated in this Austrian makers festival and wanted to make an outfit for this new generation of DIY artists and entrepreneurs, that reflected their progressive thinking, their flexibility, and their dedication to their work and their art. I made a collection of apron-like skirts for men, constructed from used trousers and jeans. They give the impression of an old-fashioned laborer’s uniform like that of a smith, butcher or miner, while breaking with taboos and traditions in terms of gender and class at the same time.

At my artist residency in Feldafing, Germany in 2015, I have expanded this collection into a more comprehensive line of clothes for a new, progressive urban generation. It has become a range of transformative designs like the pants-to-skirt example, but it also includes more complex items that further develop the aesthetic possibilities of upcycling textiles.

The next step is to publish a magazine about the recycling collection, which will include patterns and instructions for making the clothes. I want to share my designs with a wide audience and make them aware of what their consumption habits mean on a global scale. dirty-design.net

Mens skirt made of worn jeans Marjanne van Helvert/dirty design

Marjanne van Helvert is a textile designer, researcher and writer from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She also works on under the label of Dirty Design, connecting the ethics and the aesthetic qualities of a product. By doing so, she wants to give the making, selling and use of products a political layer. In her work, Marjanne takes the context of material, production, labour and craftsmanship into consideration. Instead of being hidden behind a shiny, white layer or in a black box, these aspects become the main qualities of the product, embracing traces of both maker and user.

RENÉE BOUTE

MIKS During the manufacturing process of ceramics there’s much leftover clay that disappears into the trashcan, as well as leftover glaze that will turn into a different colour after the items are baked.

Also known as ‘chemical waste’. But these materials do not have to be a complete waste; they can be used again to create new objects.

We started working on a collaboration between ceramic companies and artists to create the MIKS collection using these leftover materials. The hope was that at least two companies would be interested in this project. But nothing was further from the truth; the number of applications from ceramic suppliers was overwhelming. Even the EKWC (European Ceramic Workcenter) joined us, wanting to contribute to a project in order to reduce the abundance of waste flowing away from the ceramic process. In fact, there were so many applications that we had to find extra space to store it all. In the end there was more than enough leftover material to reuse en create an entire new collection.

The first product of the MIKS collection is a series of vases, useful for a variety of purposes.

Because of the different materials that were donated to the project, the vases consist of various colours, textures and structures, making them all unique. Each vase tells its own story; a story about where the clay and glaze comes from and what kind of product it originally would have been. It’s a collection that continues to surprise, with the added advantage of making ceramics more sustainable and less expensive.

When the items are finished, a code is pressed into the clay using a stamp. Each code refers to the supplier of the clay and the glaze. Through this reference you can create a partnership with them. They can provide ceramists with residual material that would otherwise be discarded as chemical waste, and in return MIKS will promote their name.

But working with so many types of clay and glazes requires an extensive research, and lots of experiments. All these different types of materials will react differently in the oven. What kind of oven program is suitable for which types of clay and at what temperature doesn’t burn the glaze?

An experimental adventure with many shards. But shards bring good luck.

The approach of the MIKS collection changes the role of the waste in the ceramic world and adds value to this otherwise ‘worthless’ material. That is the role of the designer... Changing the roles.

Zebra clay collected from a Utrecht based ceramic artist.

We had never worked with this type of clay before and wondered how this would look like once out of the oven.

Our research into the different types of clay, porcelain and glaze. Every one of them had to be tested in the oven separately to work out how we could use them in our collection.

The stamp refers to the suppliers of the materials used in that specific item of the collection. The special tag provides information about these materials and how the item was created.

By providing information about the heritage of the items, we want to map all the contributions to the project.

In the near future, we aim to expand this Ceramic Cradle to Cradle system and create more connectivity between ceramic artists, suppliers and the consumers.

Renée Boute is a Utrecht based designer working on the cross section of very different disciplines. Her projects are based on a thorough research into crafts, culture, sustainability, materials and nature. Boute’s work is characterized by the unique collaborations she initiates. For instance with the Dutch Chef Willem Versteeg and paper factory De Middelste Molen in creating a special cookbook with paper made from discarded fruits and vegetables (2012). Giving value to worthless material is an important driver in her projects, as well as connecting with her audience over the experience they share with the products she creates.

GEERT BARTELINK

Based on a True Story I believe stories are fundamental to how we experience the world around us. When we read the newspaper or when we are taught about our history at school, we construct our view of the world trough stories. As an artist I consider myself a storyteller; for me telling these stories and making my works of art is a way to get a grip on the world around me.

Lately, the stories I’m telling are inspired by the actualities. I’ve made a series of multimedia pieces that are based on the history and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. By using this historic European tipping point as a metaphor, I want to emphasize the many walls that are still being built within and around communities across the world. Most of these walls are built because of differences between people, groups and societies. Walls are built as a result of clashing religious views, in struggles for power or because of disparities in wealth.

The title of the series – Denken ohne Geländer – originates from the concept of ‘Thinking without banisters’ from political theorist Hannah Arendt. In her work, she describes this way of thinking as the willingness and the ability to perceive the world without preconceived categories and to actively advocate for unconventional solutions.

When I ask myself the question on how to change the world, I think we can make a good start by breaking down the walls that divide people. I believe that a lot of anger we see in the world nowadays is based on inequality. We have to reach out to each other in order to make a more equal and thus more sustainable world. In order to do so, we have to be willing to perceive ourselves, and the world around us, with an open view. The stories we tell as artists can play an essential role in this process.

Denken ohne Gel채nder (1) 200 x 260 cm Mixed media on paper 2014

Denken ohne Gel채nder (2) 200 x 300 cm Mixed media on paper 2014

Geert Bartelink (1981) is a visual artist living and working in Groningen, the Netherlands. In 2004 he graduated from ARTEZ art academy in Kampen and has been featured in several solo as well as group exhibitions since. Bartelink draws on the actualities and wants to tell stories on urgent social themes. In his work, he uses a wide range of different materials and techniques – e.g. drawing, painting and collage – to grasp the world around him.

IRIS KLOPPENBURG

Designed by Microorganisms The role of a designer is no longer merely about creating products, but rather about creating new solutions and meaning. There is a global need for new answers and valid proposals that create awareness about how our world is changing and will keep on changing in the future. We have to create a shift in the relationship we have with the living world; this relationship should become much more synergetic. Our environment - the objects around us, and materials they are made of – actually exist of living matter that can connect to the human senses.

I’m fascinated with living organisms and their behaviour; how they trigger sensations and emotions, and inspire us on new ways to interact, communicate and connect. Looking to nature, I try to find new models to imagine, visualize and create new materials. Focusing on the tactile, aural and visual qualities of a material, I explore how they connect, interact and respond to the human body and influence our senses. Discovering the intersection between living organisms and material.

Microorganisms have an enormous impact on the world. They form symbiotic relationships between microorganisms and ‘higher’ life forms such as plants, insects and animals. A wide array of interactions occurs during these processes. Many of these relationships are characterized by the microorganisms changing their appearance in order to communicate, interact or connect. A variety of other animals, insects and plants are showing this behaviour as well, manifesting their social intelligence, like the cuttlefish or a chameleon.

This natural transformation has become a driver in my work, figuring out how to implant this wonder in our human behaviour and environment. Exploring how this transformation can trigger our sensations and emotions, and at the same time inspiring us to a whole new level of interaction and communication.

In ‘Designed by Microorganisms’ I explore the behaviour of microorganisms by using design to reveal hidden patterns in the landscapes of information around us. The material becomes an imprint of how microorganisms interact, communicate and connect with the world.

Meet the Creators!

“Revealing natural wonders by tickling the senses.

I aim to make people aware and introduce them to the behaviour of microorganisms and expose what can be created from our invisible resources.�

Designed by microorganisms

Iris Kloppenburg is an Amsterdam based designer who explores the unbeaten paths of design & technology. By transmitting the needs and dreams of the public to those who can realize them, she is able to trigger new design scenarios. Kloppenburg explores the encounters between people and their environment in a highly tactual, poetic and sensitive experience. Looking to nature and living organisms, Kloppenburg tries to find new models to imagine, visualize and create new materials that connect, interact and respond to the human body and senses.

JAAP WARMENHOVEN

Soon now Soon now, you will learn to eat green peppers Soon now, you will practice your chess Soon now, you will stand up to your friends Soon now, you will try to kiss a girl Soon now, you will tell them you can sing Soon now, you will stand behind your love Soon now, you will stop worrying Soon now, you will tell her it is over Soon now, you will stop taking life for granted Soon now, you will stop being so impatient Soon now, you will start your own business Soon now, you will be brave Soon now, you will have your mom over Soon now, you will learn to really cook Soon now, you will stop masturbating so much Soon now, you will learn to drive Soon now, you will start giving blood Soon now, you will practice piano every day Soon now, you will eat less meat Soon now, you will save the earth Soon now, you will stop smoking

Soon now is an invitation to share doubts about your ability to change.

Soon now, you will have to stop acting like you are 23 Soon now, you will tell her you love her Soon now, you will tell her you love her while sober Soon now, you will make that first move Soon now, you will do something really unexpected Soon now, you will tell your neighbours you are sorry Soon now, you will stop drinking for at least a month Soon now, you will start looking further ahead Soon now, you will learn how to drive Soon now, you will father a child Soon now, you will test for potency Soon now, you will grow some fucking balls Soon now, you will quit your job Soon now, you will own up to being a liar Soon now, you will stop worrying about hair loss Soon now, you will stop using Facebook Soon now, you will love what you have Soon now, you will start training your memory Soon now, you will stop farting in public transport

In an experiment controlled by an analogue chess clock. We will doubt, but not forever.

Soon now, you will start modern dancing lessons Soon now, you will kiss a boy Soon now, you will live for your art Soon now, you will stop thinking about money Soon now, you will stop calculating whose turn it is

Soon now, you will take a long holiday Soon now, you will live in France Soon now, you will live in Berlin Soon now, you will live in New York Soon now, you will stop biting your nails Soon now, you will buy a new refrigerator Soon now, you will clean behind your bed Soon now, you will start dating older women Soon now, you will write down your dreams Soon now, you will write a story every day Soon now, you will apply for art school Soon now, you will think of something Soon now, you will go out less Soon now, you will go out more Soon now, you will stop flying everywhere Soon now, you will fuck things up Soon now, you will do some charity work Soon now, you will do your own taxes Soon now, you will stop swearing for no reason Soon now, you will quit the band Soon now, you will ask for help

Your doubts, to me, are worth a conversation. After that, we will see.

Jaap Warmenhoven is a social designer, musician and consultant from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Warmenhoven’s work is aimed at a concrete role for art and design in the heart of social and organizational problems. In 2012 he cofounded the Social Design department at Dutch consultancy firm Twynstra Gudde. Together with a growing network of artists and designers he examines complex social problems, and designs new approaches to issues such as sustainability and sustainable behaviour, public participation and the organization of care.

HANNAH KINDLER & MOULSARI JAIN

Objets d’art As you walk into the exhibition space, you notice something is familiar and yet something is out of the ordinary. In fact, the objects placed on pedestals and on display in frames are actually rather ordinary. Yet they are displayed as valuable pieces of art, and are on auction. However, each socalled ordinary object is also accompanied by an elaborate, almost fairytale human story, causing the realization that this object has had a life itself. From being a natural resource of the earth, to being mined and manufactured into an object that was sold to a person who had a reason and purpose for it, who identified with it, and eventually, gave it up, together with the meaning it had for him or her, and its role in his or her own identity.

This object has had a journey of its own, from being a part of nature, to a part of someone’s life.

In the process, it has acquired a life and identity of its own, making it not just an object, but also, a subject. A subject to be valued, looked after, and carried forth in its own life, through a new owner or through the simple acknowledgement of its existence as it is displayed on a pedestal or in a frame, in an exhibition space where we are used to seeing art.

Through an exhibition, an auction and a website, we hope to re-evaluate the value of the physical objects in our lives as a new and normal part of societal culture that we should all adhere to, as a part of healthy living together on a planet we share and not just as disconnected individuals consuming whatever we want of the earth.

Objets d’art The art of valuing the life of objects as conveyors of human stories

by Hannah Kindler Moulsari Jain

Black leather men’s shoes, 2003 Leather, glue, laces from the personal collection of Robert Brown

Robert wore these shoes the day he met Krista. It was a sunny day in autumn, and she wore a pretty red dress. They were both waiting for a friend in a little café in Hamburg, who, in the end, never appeared.

Krista approached Robert first, complimenting his elegant shoes.

Later, when they were married, the couple would still say someone was “wearing the elegant black leather shoes” if something really special or important happened to someone.

Hi Hannah, Yes, I agree, I think as artists, designers and thinkers, it is our responsibility to help people reconsider their lives, and the way they live, and on the topic of sustainability, the greatest problem I see is how little we value manufactured objects in terms of natural resources, yet how much we value the same things if they have a good brand story attached to them, or if someone we care gave them to us. I really believe we can change the way the world thinks about natural resources if we help them realise the value of every thing they own just like a living thing, because these objects in our lives actually tie us to each other, and mark moments in our lifetimes, which is something we tend to lose when these objects pass from one person to another.

Let’s help people look at the objects in their lives like living beings with lives of their own, let’s help them think of the stories that these objects represent, and let’s help people value what they already have, instead of only consuming more! Let’s reshape the very idea of value. I can’t wait to make this happen...

Yrs Moulsari On 23 Apr 2015, at 12:11, Hannah Kindler <mail@hannahkindler.com> wrote: Dear Moulsari, treating all objects equally is a very good idea! I was always intrigued by the fact that people seem to think 25 kilo of potatoes, a thin book and an H&M T-shirt must have some value in common because all of these objects cost 10€.

In fact the creation of the price is a process which has only for a small part to do with money, there is also different sorts of value which is not so easily measurable yet we are using it every day in our society. Pierre Bourdieu wrote an elaboration on the three forms of capital he identified we operate with: Cultural, Social and Economic Capital. In my opinion the revaluation of already existing objects, human relations, and the goals and the meaning we give to our lives is the key element to “save the world”. Being sustainable to me means being more conscious of one’s field of influence — to act and think different, not just to buy a fashionable bicycle made of bamboo. It is people believing in something which is forming the reality we live in...

Hannah On 22 Apr 2015, at 14:51, Moulsari Jain <moulsari@moulsari.com> wrote: Hi Hannah!

That’s excellent, if we can also put up iPads on the walls like framed images and really make the objects that we present (or that people add to the website) as part of the exhibition, treating everything equally no matter what it’s economic value is, then we could also add a lot more objects to the exhibit, without having them to physically present. In this way, we can bridge the physical and virtual experiences, and also perhaps bring people to the website we will eventually create.

Yours Moulsari On 16 Mar 2015, at 23:36, Hannah Kindler <mail@hannahkindler.com> wrote: Moulsari, That sounds very interesting! With today’s overproduction we are surrounded by an enormous amount of impersonal objects that carry no or very little personal value for their owners. But in the setting we want to create, it becomes visible again how subjective value is — a fact we tend to forget if we are only looking at a number. We enact value, we create it through our attention towards the objects and the people.

I think we are on a good path! So let’s talk more about the technical side: I imagine that we present the objects and stories in a gallery or auction like setting, on stands or pedestals to communicate value. Further I imagine us in something like “official outfits”, a bit like gallery owners or air hostesses. It would also be great to have something people can use themselves, a photo corner where they can take pictures of their objects and write down their stories. Maybe we can even make a website where all the objects are represented or they get their own Facebook identity!

Hannah On 13 Apr 2015, at 17:41, Moulsari Jain <moulsari@moulsari.com> wrote: Hannah, I love where this is going. Objects become human, and a gallery becomes a space for a conversation — about value. Maybe the conversation itself is the Artwork. Maybe the human interaction is the actual intervention needed to redefine value — value for nature and value for humans and value of energy, as put into making art and using materials that come from nature. Maybe the actual auction — or let’s call it conversation or negotiation — is the value of the object. If an object generates more conversation and exchange of stories, then it may be deemed as a work of art, whereas one that does not compete loses value and becomes a poor man’s treasure, to be sold for a few pieces of paper called money.

Imagine that! If your stories are good enough, you can get the object without money. If you cannot, then you have to pay money. How’s that for a twist in the value system?!

Yrs Moulsari On 23 Apr 2015, at 10:21, Hannah Kindler <mail@hannahkindler.com> wrote: Moulsari, exactly!

Nowadays as we have scarcity it becomes more and more important to think of new value systems. Human interaction is a good which will never be scarce. I think it is an interesting experiment to use the frameworks of the old value system and to fill it with new value.

I could also imagine that we use the visual language of an auction or a gallery, and maybe we can make use of the phenomenon that people give value to virtual reality as those formed on social media. Objects could become their own facebook identity with a history of where they were and who used them!

Hannah On 12 Apr 2015, at 09:13, Moulsari Jain <moulsari@moulsari.com> wrote: Hi Hannah, It’s like you’re reading my mind! I agree, I would love to reinfuse life back into the objects that people own, and collect, by bringing their attention back to them as living things, not non-living things. After all, everything in our world is made from nature, the same building blocks we are all made of. So how do people decide the value of things, anyway? Is it because we all agree that gold is more valuable than dirt? Or is it because that thing made of gold was given to us by someone we love and identify with, that we decide it has more value? And what if we find the HUMAN value in our objects by sharing the stories that make those objects part of our own identity? What if I don’t just see it as an object, but as the holder of the story, my personal memory, that makes it a living thing with it’s own life and journey, and actually treat it that way? What would happen if we all started looking at our objects that way, even in an exhibition? Or a store?

Moulsari On 12 Apr 2015, at 22:11, Hannah Kindler <mail@hannahkindler.com> wrote: Hey Moulsari, Yea it was great to take to you!

VALUE is the key word I think! I am very interested in developing awareness of how we give value through conversations with the people who come to the exhibition. I think new value can be developed by making them look at old objects in a new way.

What do you think?

Hannah On 10 Apr 2015, at 20:18, Moulsari Jain <moulsari@moulsari.com> wrote: Hey Hannah!

It was great to see you again. Shall we talk about how we want to approach the exhibition in Munich? I think we could create something really valuable together!

Look forward to your thoughts!

Yours, Moulsari

Hannah Kindler is an artist from Freiburg, Germany now living and working in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Kindler easily moves within different materials and disciplines, such as weaving and performance, garments and video, writing and knitting, drawing and spatial installation, always having the question of value as a central focal point in her work. However enthusiastic she is about making new stuff, she is also very critical; Who are we to make things? What do we want to achieve with the things we make? What can we make in a world of plenty that is really needed, and not just a waste of resources?

Moulsari Jain is a conceptual designer, artist and thinker asking provocative questions about the way we live. She is driven by her passion to study life and the human experience of the world, and how we can each make our contribution. Her belief in individual freedom, even from oneself, drives her to enable others to live the life they envision for themselves, by sharing her own skills and experience. Originally from New Delhi, Moulsari has many places to call home. She currently resides in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, when she is not traveling to find new challenges, and inspiration.

JORAN KOSTER

Converted Bicycles Coming from the Netherlands, where practically everybody owns a bicycle, I was amazed by the role of the bicycle in India. Besides functioning as a basic means of transportation, it also serves as a movable store, kitchen and phone charger. The various, ingenious applications of the bicycle in their daily lives seem to be endless.

With minimal tools and resources these bicycles are adjusted to accommodate a wide spectrum of pre-decided future tasks. The bike - as a readymade accessible device â&#x20AC;&#x201C; fulfils an essential role in supporting and even creating the livelihood of many. This radically thorough and fiercely diverse approach stands in sharp contrast with the rather absent-minded way we tend to think of bicycles in the Netherlands, where they only serve one purpose: getting you from one place to the other.

Joran Koster is a graphic designer and co-founder of COUP RAVAGE; a Rotterdam based design collective that moves in the border area between graphic and spatial design. Koster’s work comes into being on the cross section of culture and media, creating social interventions like his recent work Cairo Contemporary Hack Map and ‘Do It With What You Have’ a blog showcasing ideas and problem solving under conditions of scarcity.

PHILIPP WEBER

Anthracite Fossil coal is the one material that everybody usually considers to be very unsustainable. As my own great-grandfather was a coalminer, I have a personal relationship to this material. To fuel this fascination, I began investigating bituminous coal in 2012 in the industrial Ruhr district in Germany, and came to understand that there is only little public knowledge of the production processes related to fossil coal. The standard perception of our coal consumption is “We take it out of the ground, we burn it, and then we make energy from it.“ The real use of the material is barely tangible to the bigger audience.

Only few people know that coal is used for much more than our energy needs. It is also an important ingredient to produce other materials, such as steel, for which it is actually needed in very big quantities.

I believe we can make the world a better place by increasing our awareness. At the moment, most people lack the necessary connection to the things with which we surround ourselves everyday. And as our consumption grows, we tend to loose sight of the story behind the product.

We know nothing about the people who make it, the materials used, nor the processes they went through to become the items we use every day.

In order to regain a greater understanding of their real value, we need to become more conscious about the things we consume. In some way we have to develop a certain empathic connection to our products and their manufacturing processes.

Dealing with the relation between humans and material, my project intends to broaden the view on the use of fossil coal and increase awareness on this matter. Once we have established a new understanding of the products we consume, our love and appreciation for value of these products will grow. As a result, we will feel more attached to the artefacts that we choose to make part of our environments.

Sketchbook spread

Charcoal drawings

Philipp Weber is a multi-talented designer from MĂźnster, living and working all over the world. Weber believes that in an increasingly digitalized world the comprehension and appreciation for original production processes are increasingly lost. In his work, he aims to rediscover and revalue the emotional qualities within these processes. The mysteries that lie in the craft of glassblowing or the alien work environment of a coal miner are topics that feed his fascination. By finding these arcane values that reveal themselves with new and different meaning, Weber poses new perspectives on craftsmanship and their importance for our society.

LIESBET RABBINGE

Local Global Solutions How to solve important global issues that threaten our environment? And how to save the world from not having enough resources left, and at the same time tackle the abundance of waste we produce, the loss of biodiversity and global inequality?

Trying to contribute to solving these challenges as a designer, solutions can be found in smart products and using new technologies. In fields such as biology, chemistry and physics there is a lot of information we can use. As designers we look to the world from a different perspective, and this gives us the opportunity to combine the knowledge from these fields in new ways. We look into both the near and far future. By doing so we can create small steps forward and push towards a tipping point aiming for a different society.

Looking into smart solutions that can have real impact, there are two things that are the most important; you should look for an environment that is very vulnerable, and the starting point should always be the people that are directly involved. Global issues sometimes ask for local solutions.

Such is the case for landfills all over the world. Even in the slums, where thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of scarcity, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an abundance of waste. These landfills are the cause of serious health issues, they poisons the water and create issues for local plant and animal life.

If you can create something of value from this waste in a smart and safe way, it could be the start of creating better living circumstances for the locals. My small solution is designing a way for them to create furniture from plastic waste lying around in their living area. By collecting this waste and getting it out of the environment, you can make an instant impact.

The collected plastic can be grounded into smaller parts and made into a filling for furniture.

The outside of the furniture, for instance a lounge chair, can be created from garbage bags or old textile. The chair is easily assembled based on the panels from my design. At the same the design time leaves room for improvements with local materials and adjusting the lounge chair to individual preferences. If you combine this process with solar heating; the plastic parts will stick together, hardening the shells to become more durable and suitable for outside use as well.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Concept design to transform local waste into usable products by simple measures; here the plastic is shredded and used as filling for lounge chairs created with garbage bags and simple tape.â&#x20AC;?

Liesbet Rabbinge is a freelance exhibition and interior designer with a background in Industrial and Interior Design (Milan). After working for several design agencies on a wide range of projects - from designing toys to entire interiors – Rabbinge decided to start her own business. As a freelancer, she enjoys starting unexpected projects and working at different offices. Rabbinge has always been interested in ‘doing good’ with her design, especially for people in developing countries. With her Rotterdam based design company she is currently working on local solutions for global issues.

RALF JOSEF

Reducing efficiency It’s interesting; the only thing we possess that comes close to something infinite is energy. Sure, not the one made by burning coal or making uranium react. But hello, here comes the sun!

What if there can be a future where we have an unlimited amount of green energy available? For the sake of the argument, let’s assume that all that moves, heats, powers our computers and lightens our nights is energy we can use as much as we would want to. Who wouldn’t want that?

Because, after all, what we are doing right now is spending material and energy creating more and more new products that will save on energy. We build energy-saving light bulbs that create more toxic waste. We build highly complex hybrid vehicles that save that extra litre of fuel. We clad our houses in foamed polystyrene or replace them completely to make them more energy efficient. We are creating to save.

But that new car will never return the amount of energy that its production consumed, nor will the new house or the energy-efficient light bulbs. We will not be the ones who have to pay for this waste of resources. That bill will go to our children and our children’s children.

To me as a designer this sounds quite illogical, since these resources could actually be saved by simple putting more energy into sustaining and operating our ‘old products’. If we ever want to truly discover to the deepest ocean patch and reach as sky-high as Mars, we should not waste what little we have left.

We need to shift from energy efficiency towards material efficiency. In the future, we should design for energy consumption if it means saving materials we have left, and enriching the consumer’s experience. We will treat our food as something it is – living – and preserve it’s nutritional value by cooking it in clay pots and leave it on the stove for a couple of hours. We will use light not only because it gives light, but also because it feels warm and we want it to feel warm. We will use fewer materials that are directly harmful to both the environment as well as the people who have to mine and process them. This future scenario allows speculation, assumptions and dreams; even though the floating lamp and the cooking pots are real and palpable, they still keep an aura of uncertainty, of fiction – much like a movie prop.

Would reducing efficiency save the world? Or will we be stuck in a place where there is no more progress, where one of the main forces that drive design – material research – is non-existent?

Would we then loose cultural value? Would we, in thousands of years, reach the energy limits of the source - the sun - that now seems limitless to us – as we did with the natural resources of our planet? Can we really save the world?

No new energy saving light bulbs, no cool LEDs. The heat of the old fashioned light source expands the air inside a balloon, letting it float in the air. The concept allows only the most essential materials to be used to make the lamp as light as possible.

As with the floating light, this cooking pot and frying pan don’t care too much about fashionable Teflon coating, ergonomic handlebars or heat conductive metal as the basic material. Instead, clay is used in a spherical shape to give the food the time it needs to be cooked gently – even though it might consume more energy.

Ralf Josef is a theoretical designer living and thinking in Munich. Josef figured out quite early that design for it’s own sake was nothing he wanted to be dealing with, so he decided to create his own theoretical approach to the subject of design. Rather than to try and design a new version of a chair or a fancy electronic object, he actually takes a step back and reflects on the manifestation of design in society. For the Art Intervention project he created a future scenario in which we reduce efficiency in favour of creating to save.

MARIA MANCINI

Dear Mr. Present State All change comes with inevitable responsibilities, and requires reflection from time to time.

It is time for a start-over, and these are my 10 demands: 1. Everyone, for our time being the Present, should be in a State of awareness, 2. The people should act as responsible servants of the Earth, our Mass Alter piece, 3. Working towards stabilizing ‘the filled up planet’ away from this Mess of Desecration, 4. Grand as our big Deær, the Hunter’s mythical symbol of self-sacrifice, ‘Bison-like’.

5. We live in never-ending Universal Kindness, 6. Honoring our ancestors as well as our future children, 7. Down to Earth, until in, 8. Re-inventing the Brick-by-brick-radicals.

9. A justified mentality change, 10. To create radiating imagery for our new insights.

This piece is made in honor of the Cro-Magnons, the founding fathers of our modern day, visual based society. They used their imagery as a tool to a shifting perspective.

Maria Mancini is visual artist based in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. Her work is multidisciplinary and has its roots in popular culture, anarchy and philosophy. Her project ‘Dear Mr. Present State’ is a personal experiment; utilizing a back to basic-‘Do as the ‘ancestors’ do -principle. Mancini wanted to create a confrontation between her own attitude towards aesthetics versus her desire to work in the most sustainable way possible as a modern-day artist.

MIA VENTIN

THE MAKE BELIEVE

MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE. MAKE BELIEVE.

Mia Ventin is a multi-talented designer from Zagreb, living and working in Ljubljana, Slovenia. As an interior and fashion designer, Ventin explores the relation between the body and the garment in the context of cultural heritage and investigates the different social elements that dictate the development of fashion in order to create visual statements. Moving across different fascinations and disciplines, she is currently discovering video and film as a new realm to visualize her ideas on the self and society.

What’s the Deal A TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT ON YOUNG URBAN CULTURES

What’s the Deal is a multi-disciplinary project that wants to artistically explore sustainability in connection with young urban cultures such as mural art, design, urban sports (skateboarding, biking) and digital media. Between 2013 and 2015 five partners from four European countries (Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Slovenia) collaborated across borders and organized a series of activities in all partner sites involving international artists. What’s the Deal aims to bring the idea of sustainable lifestyle to the young urban scenes in European cities. It wants to inspire them to create new perspectives.

The Kulturreferat of Munich (DE), together with Kunstzentrat (DE), Kino Šiška (SI), Coolpolitics (NL) and the Schmiede festival (AT) kicked of the project with an elaborate theme-related mapping of the respective local scenes, and when on to organize intervention-style workshops, facilitate the creation of new art works, mural art and installations (like bike art created entirely from sustainable materials or a skateable sculpture in an abandoned city area) - made visible in a series of public events.

For the Dutch part of project, Coolpolitics designed the Art Intervention; a creative masterclass program bringing together fourteen young designers from different disciplines to think on and discuss the role of designers towards a sustainable future. Their ideas and works were featured in a group exhibition during the International What’s the Deal? – Moving Urban Cultures Festival in Munich in June 2015.

How to Change the World?

An intervention

Edited by Susanne Eskens Design by Ad van Helmond Printed by High Trade bv, Zwolle, The Netherlands With special thanks to Amal Al Haag, Jeske de Vries, Niels Vinck, Karlijn Eskens and Ron Smit for their support, and all the designers and artists for making this book a wonderful story about changing the world on our own terms.

© 2015 the editor, the authors and LM Publishers All rights reserved.

Pictures courtesy of the artists.

Pictures from the Bronze Age Collection courtesy of Studio TJep. Picture from the Landfill in Local Global Solutions via http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nairobi_Kibera_05.jpg

The Art Intervention program of Coolpolitics is part of the international What’s the Deal art project on urban culture and sustainability in cooperation with the Kulturreferat of Munich, Kunstzentrat, Kino Šiška, and the Schmiede festival.

“This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”