SOURCE Lecture
Wednesday 5 February 2014, 15-17h
Location: Van Abbe Museum (studio, in context of the Arte Util Museum)
HUNNIE / In search of (our) new nature
A lecture by Henriëtte Waal and Sophie Krier (Hunnie)
What are the key elements of our desires for nature? To which form of nature do we want to contribute, now that cows and greenhouses are disappearing from the landscape?
During a one-year field research, Hunnie ('them' in local slang) designed and tested new forms of recreation and maintenance in De Bovenlanden in the Dutch Province of Utrecht. The polder will exchange its agricultural function for a nature reserve in the context of a European plan to link ecological zones and allow flora and fauna to migrate and diversify. Hunnie's focus is the role of humans in relation to this man-made 'new nature'.
Initiators and designers Henriëtte Waal and Sophie Krier invested time in getting to know inhabitants and local clubs with very specific knowledge of the area. Fishermen, hunters, historians, geologists, biologists, dieticians, artists, water engineers were given the role of guides, while scientists and thinkers were asked to provide a reflective framework. New nature lovers from the surrounding cities were attracted through a series of seasonal Adventures, products and field workshops related to water, clay, grass, willow, wildlife and wilderness. Hence, Hunnie links 'them' from De Bovenlanden to 'them' who are about to discover it.
www.hunnie.nu
About
the Museum of Arte Útil
How can we 'use' the museum? How can it become a civic institution for production and output? Through the project the Museum of Arte Útil by artist Tania Bruguera, the ambition is to transform - in this case - the Van Abbe museum into a Social Power Plant, where spectators become users and collective, transformative energy can be generated for use in the world outside. The case studies from the archive provide the fuel for the Social Power Plant, the presentations are a toolkit for users to re-purpose tactics and methodologies to their own ends.
http://museumarteutil.net/projects/hunnie/
http://vanabbemuseum.nl/
SOURCE is the weekly theory programme for the master departments at the Design Academy Eindhoven