Exhibition

Ten brave attempts to do somthing in response to the climate crisis

What happens when 10 designers and 10 climate scientists work together in 1-on-1 collaborations with no set brief? Inside this space you will hear 10 stories of collaborations that each look at a different aspect of the climate crisis, from the birds in the sky to the ice in the Antarctic and the energy in our homes.

Climate change will not only affect the way designers and scientists work, but also how each of us approaches challenges and uncertainty. The 20 collaborators share how they navigated this uncertainty together and learned to collaborate.

Experience the Exhibition

With it's official opening during the Dutch Design Week, the exhibition at Foundation We Are in Stijp-S was open till February 2025. Inside of the exhibition the visitors could explore the stories behind the 10 collaborations through an immersive audio tour, offering a deeper connection to the creative process.

Now that the exhibition is officially closed you can take an immersive look through the 10 works by listening to the audiotour online. Choose witch language you prefer below and experience an online version of the tour by scrolling down this page.

Listen here to the audiotour in English

Listen here to the audiotour in Dutch

Chapter 1: Through the eyes of science

Connected Witnesses

Andrea de la Peña and Evy Gobbens

On Texel, Andrea, a material researcher and designer, joined biologist Evy to immerse herself in Evy’s bird observation practices. Recognising the role of the human-bird bond in fostering a deeper understanding of our planet’s health, as well as climate empathy, they created a video and textile installation that lets people embody the Wadden Sea and build empathy with it.

Climate Code: Navigating Policy Language

Brogen Berwick and Isabela Schmidt Tagomori

Over nine months, design researcher, Brogen, and researcher on International Climate Policy, Isabela, explored climate policy negotiations in conferences in China and Germany. They reflect on the language of climate policies and question the difference between the top-down approach of policy-making and the bottom-up work of scientists in the field. They bring these reflections to life with a lightbox installation.

Chapter 2: Broadening horizons

Navigation - Towards situated data

Willie Vogel and Frederike Arp

Researching the vast scale of material flows is challenging, especially when two different professions have seemingly opposite approaches to understanding the same material: sand. Architect, Willie, and PhD researcher, Frederike, combined data modelling with field trips to sand mining sites and showcase a tool kit to merge architectural practices with scientific ones, creating a more holistic research approach to knowledge production.

How’s the weather?

Riad Salameh

Art practitioner, Riad, and senior scientist, Arnoud’s, collaboration involved discussing different forms of knowledge, scientific and other. Riad merges cultural heritage from his own Lebanese background with modern meteorological technologies with his installation. By integrating diverse voices, he seeks to enhance accessibility to different forms of knowledge and appreciation for multiple perspectives.

Chapter 3: Building bridges

Unbounding Mono-emotional Relations to Climate Change

Colette Aliman and Tim van den Akker

Sound artist, Colette, and ice sheet modeller, Tim, engaged deeply in each other’s practices with field trips, brainstorming and by experimenting with scientific models. Together, they created an interactive model of Antarctica that lets the public explore the melting of its ice sheets through the emotional lenses of sound and the rationality of visuals, demonstrating how emotion can enhance the impact of data, without undermining its credibility.

You scream, I scream, we all scream… for ice cream!

Merel Witteman and Roderik van de Wal

Inspired by popular campaigns and climate themed science fiction, communication designer and senior researcher, Merel and Roderik, focus on the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet and sea-level rise. They launch the first ever sea level neutral ice cream brand, aiming to motivate public action where influence remains, to provoke, mitigate, and adapt to climate change.

Open climate call

Myrthe Krepel

Based on discussions with senior scientist Pieter, performance designer, Myrthe, investigates the role of the scientist in society and explores how to create more effective and two-way communication about the climate crisis. With the climate phone line, Myrthe lets visitors experiment with connecting to people who experience different facets of the issue, but rarely engage with one another.

Chapter 4: All together now

Shifting tides

Matilde Stolfa and Hailley Danielson-Owczynsky

Inspired by popular campaigns and climate themed science fiction, communication designer and senior researcher, Merel and Roderik, focus on the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet and sea-level rise. They launch the first ever sea level neutral ice cream brand, aiming to motivate public action where influence remains, to provoke, mitigate, and adapt to climate change.

Energy Futures PrepPack

Lisa Mandemaker and Nikki Kluskens

Speculative designer, Lisa, and PhD researcher, Nikki, seamlessly blend their tools and approaches, embracing ‘exploratory action research’ to collect insights on how energy transition policies impact people’s lives. They designed and distributed 10 emergency prep kits, allowing people to record their daily life experiences in a fictional power outage. Aiming to counter gloomy energy transition narratives, they use speculative design to empower individuals and foster productive debate about future roles.

Kom in Actie: KNMI Klimaat Neutraal

Karl Moubarak and Frank Selten

Information designer, Karl’s collaboration with senior scientist, Frank, involved open dialogue, sharing resources, and exploring technologies. Their discussions led to forming an employee-driven initiative at the Dutch weather institute KNMI to achieve net zero emissions, starting with a survey with over 100 employee responses. Their initiative grew to 20 members, and with a new coordinator soon joining KNMI, they hope their efforts will inspire similar groups in other organizations.