IT’S OUR F***ING BACKYARD
DESIGNING MATERIAL FUTURES
Exhibition — May 26 until Sep 4, 2022
The Stedelijk spotlights the greatest challenge of our time: the climate crisis. The exhibition It’s Our F***ing Backyard shows that designers can make a compelling difference: through innovative experiments or by drawing on ‘forgotten’ knowledge, they invite us to look at materials in a radically new way and offer us design that is both responsible and aesthetic, comfortable and accessible. Eighty selected projects by designers and companies from all over the world shed light on an array of strategies that explore innovative uses of materials. The exhibition also looks at how soil depletion relates to practices of colonialism, which are still continued by some multinationals.
ALGAE AND COW'S BLOOD
Designers recycle all kinds of waste materials for new products and use the power of nature to create unusual materials. Design studio Bentu, for example, produces furniture from ceramic waste, Tamara Orjola manufactures textiles from pine needles and Basse Stittgen came up with tableware made of cow’s blood. The innovations range from experimental research to new applications of ancient craft techniques. Claudy Jongstra introduced medieval natural dye recipes into Viktor & Rolf’s fashion designs, and Seok-hyeon Yoon used the traditional ottchill lacquer technique to make recyclable ceramics. Maartje Dros and Erik Klarenbeek experiment with diatoms (micro-algae), which bind CO2, to make glass. Other projects focus on generating energy in ways that are less harsh on the environment, or forgo the addition of material by switching to a loan economy. Other initiatives focus on tempting users into think differently. All the projects on display give new impetus to the industry and make us more aware of our footprint.
DESIGNERS, PRODUCERS AND NEW ACQUISITIONS
The exhibition showcases experiments and prototypes as well as products already on the market. It includes work by Fernando Laposse, FormaFantasma, Christien Meindertsma, Shahar Livne, Donghoon Sohn, Alexandra Kehayoglou, and by manufacturers such as Vitra and Ikea. Designers are also forging new alliances. For example, together with DJ Peggy Gou, the Balinese design studio Space Available designed a chair from 20 kilos of plastic waste collected in Indonesia.
The exhibition is also an opportunity for the Stedelijk to expand its design collection in this regard. Recent additions include acquisitions by Carissa Ten Tije, Yamuna Forzani, Seok-hyeon Yoon, Joana Schneider, Seungbin Yang, Audrey Large, Tamara Orjola, Yasmin Bawa, and Marjan van Aubel, and donations by Circuform (Ineke Hans) and Space Available.
CLIMATE JUSTICE
Various studies show that the roots of today’s climate problem lie to a large extent in colonialism, in the appropriation of land and the exploitation and destruction of nature, people and animals. The imbalances of power that arose then are often still visible today. Nowadays, apart from governments, it is mainly multinational companies that exhaust the soil. The Stedelijk was advised in this field by Raki Ap (speaker/guest lecturer, spokesperson Free West Papua NL and one of the founders in the Netherlands of Indigenous Perspectives on Climate Change) and Chihiro Geuzebroek (trainer/speaker and interdisciplinary maker in the field of climate justice, colonialism, Indigenous sovereignty, art & activism). Since the rise of industrial technologies, local knowledge has often been ignored, while we can hugely benefit from what it has to teach us about how to live more symbiotically with nature. For the exhibition, the Stedelijk selected projects by designers who reclaim and revive this knowledge.
“Designers are increasingly drawing on their creativity to address social, political and environmental issues. Their innovative approaches encourage us to rethink ways of using materials so that we reduce our impact on the planet—designers look beyond current technology, and show us ways in which we can produce and consume better and pollute less. This exhibition intends to make design at the cutting edge of ecology and innovation widely accessible. By doing so, we want to look at how the Stedelijk could support meaningful climate action, highlight the crucial role that design can play in our society and help towards making deep, transformative changes. For us, as an institution, it also represents an ongoing and renewed call to action; like every organisation, we are also addressing ways to reduce our own carbon footprint.”
Exhibition curators Amanda Pinatih, design curator, and Ingeborg de Roode, industrial design curator: “The first global climate strike in 2018 reflected a growing awareness that we need to change our way of life. After small-scale initiatives at the end of the last century, more and more is happening in the world of design. This exhibition shows how, through creative practices, makers and manufacturers can provide a host of new possibilities, and how consumers can play their part through the choices they make. Climate change concerns us all—it’s happening in own backyard.”
Caption compilation image, clockwise: Ineke Hans, Rex, 2021, first Dutch deposit chair, made from recycled polyamide (old office furniture, fishing nets, carpet and industrial waste), coll. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, donation Circuform, De Meern, 2022 / Simón Ballen Botero, Suelo Orfebre (Goldsmith’s Soil), 2018, glass made of jagua, a waste product from goldmining / Marjan van Aubel, Sunne, 2022, lamp with Sun Power solar cells, aluminum, recycled plastic, coll. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam / Diana Scherer, InterWoven - Exercises in Root System Domestication, 2021-22, grown textile from oat roots / Audrey Large, MetaBowl #6, 2021, recycled 3D printed plastic, coll. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Photo: Alaa Abu Asad. Nilufar Gallery-Far Edition / Space Available X Peggy Gou, Peggy Chair, 2021, chair made of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE), coll. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, donation of Space Available, Bali, Indonesia, 2022.
It's Our F***ing Backyard shows works by
Adidas, Adjaye Associates (Sir David Adjaye OBE), Belén (Brecht Duijf en Lenneke Langenhuijsen), Bentu, Biotrem, Circuform / Ineke Hans, Claudy Jongstra / Viktor & Rolf, Crafting Plastics Studio (Vlasta Kubušová en Miroslav Král), DRIFT (Lonneke Gordijn en Ralph Nauta), ecoBirdy (Joris Vanbriel en Vanessa Yuan), Fairphone / Bas van Abel, FormaFantasma / Dzek (FormaFantasma: Andrea Trimarchi en Simone Farresin), Ikea, Jacob de Baan en Tejo Remy, Krill Design, LENA Library (Elisa Jansen en Diana Jansen), Luis Fernando Barrios, Rafael Sánchez Brizuela Ochoa, Viridiana Palma Dominguez, Aniela Mayte Guerrero Hernández, Oscar Andrés Méndez Hernández, Naoto Ricardo Kobayashi Utsumoto. (Ontwerpers van the Solar Project onder leiding van Moisés Hernández) Mameluca Studio (Alessandra Clark en Nuno FS), Myenergyskin by EigenEnergie.net / Kiki & Joost (Kiki van Eijk en Joost van Bleiswijk), Ocean Bottle / K8 Design, Reef Design Lab Studio / Sydney Institute of Marine Science (Reef Design Lab Studio: Alex Goad), Shahar Livne / Balenciaga, Space Available / Peggy Gou, (Studio) Bart Vernooij (Bart Vernooij), Studio CTT (Carissa ten Tije), Studio Ekaterina Semenova (Ekaterina Semenova), Studio Klarenbeek & Dros (Maartje Dros en Eric Klarenbeek), Studio Seungbin Yang (Seungbin Yang), Studio Thomas Vailly (Thomas Vailly), Studio Tinus (Martijn Straatman), Studio Yoon Seok-hyeon (Yoon Seok-hyeon), The Ocean Cleanup / Yves Béhar, The Slum Studio (Sel Kofiga), Van.Eko / NPSP BV / HeijltjesAkkaya, Vepa / Plastic Whale / LAMA Concept (Yvonne Laurysen en Erik Mantel), Vitra / Barber Osgerby (Barber Osgerby: Edward Barber en Jay Osgerby), WNDR (Matt Sterbenz)
And by the following designers
Kosuke Araki, Marjan van Aubel, Aldo Bakker, Simón Ballen Botero, Yasmin Bawa, Cheick Diallo, Teresa van Dongen, Anne Fischer, Yamuna Forzani, Ting Gong, Iris van Herpen, Sae Honda, Elisa van Joolen, Alexandra Kehayoglou, Dirk van der Kooij, Agne Kucerenkaite, Don Yaw Kwaning, Janne Kyttanen, Joris Laarman, Roxane Lahidji, Fernando Laposse, Audrey Large, Savvas Laz, WooJai Lee, Mae-ling Lokko, Christien Meindertsma, Stine Mikkelsen, Tamara Orjola, Leo Orta, Océane Romanet, Diana Scherer, Joana Schneider, Yuiko Shigeta, Donghoon Sohn, Basse Stittgen, Tjeerd Veenhoven
Campaign and video by Mevis & van Deursen. The following audio has been used for the campaign: Bird Soundscape „Singing Birds in Park“ - orangefreesounds Demonstration Soundscape: Fridays For Future (Sweden): Walking along protest march - Sounds Of Changes - Fredrik Johansson.
The exhibition It’s Our F***ing Backyard. Designing Material Futures has been made possible by the generous contributions of Creative Industries Fund NL, the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, the Mondriaan Fund, and our partner Polestar.
