The program In The Age of Post-Drought is dedicated to the global water-related challenges. Due to climate change and the rapid world population growth, water scarcity is grown to be one of the biggest threats facing life on earth in the 21stcentury. Transnatural organises a series of exhibitions that aim to address these pressing issues in Amsterdam, at the Dutch Design Week and Grand Hornu (CID) in Belgium.
A unique side-program will take place on Oerol, Into the Great Wide Open and in Amsterdam. On March 1 we will kick-start the program with its first exhibition at Transnatural in Amsterdam. In the Age of Post-Drought is an exploration into the various small and large-scale designs, (bio)technological inventions and artistic interventions that can contribute to a more ecologically friendly future in which water-related issues will be a problem of the past.
These problems are looked at from four different angles: water scarcity, water pollution, water nuisance and desertification. The exhibition in Amsterdam will be the start of a variety of projects that will develop in the course of the 9 months program. The projects are part of the Transnatural residency of which the final results will be displayed during the festivals on the Wadden Islands and at the Dutch Design Week.
During the program, designer Jólan van der Wiel will develop and exhibit new design methods as part of his project Tropic City. In his project, Van der Wiel embraces the possibilities of a tropical future in northern countries. The work Clams, from visual artist Marco Barotti, is also included in the residency.
His artistic soundscape is an ongoing project and will eventually consist of 50 up to 60 artifical oysters measuring the water quality of their surroundings, while translating this data into orchestral sounds. The final installation will be displayed in June at Oerol festival on Terschelling.
In the art project Aquatocene, from visual artist Robertina Šebjanič, we will explore the phenomenon of noise pollution and its impact on the aquatic ecosystem. She will give a workshop in which participants will make their own audio-recordings of the aquatic noise pollution. She will incorporate the results from this workshop in an installation and different performances.
The social design project of Warka Water will harvest freshwater from the air on Vlieland with their Warka Tower. This large bamboo tower is covered in special wire gauze that collects and stores freshwater, developed for the thirdworld countries that have to deal with drought and water shortages.