Dorota Gazy – Court Dance
Man and Leisure
Court Dance is a method to get new insights into the relation between perpetrators and victims in the system of justice. By making use of the power of connection Gazy breaks through the dynamic of othering in which you either are a perpetrator or a victim. Dancers are invited into the courtroom to embody what reasoning can’t describe. Watching the dansers move through the space will bring back humanity and offer the justice system advice through a shared experience.
Luca Claessens – Ubiquity
Man and Communication
In today’s media landscape we consume a wealth of scattered bits of information. Claessens’ noticed a lack of contextualisation and saw an opportunity to improve the communication between different parties. His online platform “Ubiquity” provides a curated information base on the topic of smart cities in order to create a mutual way of understanding before entering into a discussion.
Julia Thomann – Transcendent Skin
Man and Mobility
What if we could decide how our skin looks like? ‘Transcendent Skin’ envisions a future scenario in which the powers of technology have rewarded us with eternal youth. Thomann’s speculates upon a revived crave for nostalgia. The defects of our skin will become a jewellery on the human body in order to express the inner layer of the human soul.
Mirjam de Bruijn – Twenty
Man and Activity
What if water is left out of our household products and added later at home? De Bruijn’s brand forecast shows us the future; removing 80% of the water in household products will leave us with the remaining 20%. Her cleaver approach opens our eyes and shows us that being sustainable doesn’t have to be difficult.
Paul slot – Genetically Modified Objects
Public Private
Whereas design research is often done from the perspective of one individual, Slot decided to push the boundaries by the use of a different methodology. Paul Slot, Melle Witteveen en Peter Cornelis Muller are three alter egos resulting into three different working methods from which he started to research linden wood. In his self-build laboratory he would rinse the wood with heavy chemicals and analyse the fibres and properties which resulted in a new material, four times stronger than the original wood.
Marie Caye – SAM
Food Non Food
It’s hard to describe SAM in words, according to Caye, who wanted to create an intriguing future vending machine that you never saw before. Sam is a Symbiotic Autonomous Machine, showing it’s capacity to be autonomous; he calculates the costs, manages recipes and after payment pours you a cool refreshing drink. Pushing the independency of the machine to the next level Caye and co-designer Arvid Jense leave you with a question: ‘why not give SAM a legal status?
Aram Lee – Dutch wife
Contextual Design
Researching the hidden narrative of an object Lee came across a human size bolster cushion made of bamboo, which originated from Indonesia in the Dutch colonial context. By deconstructing the so called ‘Dutch wife’ and transforming it into a blanket she wants to liberate the object.
Mark Henning – Normaal
Social Design
What is normal behaviour? What is a normal handshake? A letter published by the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in which he expressed the idea that if certain people couldn’t behave normally they should leave, made Henning got triggered by the absurdity of our need to be normal. Using handshakes as a metaphor for normal behaviour he did several interventions and decided to design a testing station for handshakes, an experimental format where the participants are forced to adjust to the given normality.
Nadine Botha – Politics of shit
Design Curating & Writing
As one of the first graduates from the new Design Writing and Curating department Botha went back to her roots in Cape Town by researching the so called ‘toilet wars’. With the two different outcomes, a Facebook chatbot and an exhibition proposal she found a new way to create a conversation and tells you the story about how the distribution of portable flush toilets turned into a political toilet war.
Irene Stracuzzi – The Legal Status of Ice
Information Design
Who owns the Artic ocean? By researching borders Stracuzzi got to know the border conflict in the Artic Ocean where - Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States all make their claims. Due to the decrease of sea-ice immense oil and gas riches might be uncovered which seems to overblow the actual problem of global warming. A 3D model visualises the current border dispute and creates awareness of the idea of maps being just a representation of reality.