Het Nieuwe Instituut is offering a special tour of Lithium, one of our new exhibitions, exclusively for Members.

Lithium deals with both the benevolent and harmful aspects of the eternal human quest for energy. The tour is given by researcher and curator Anastasia Kubrak. Lithium powers our laptops and electric cars. The element is also used for the treatment of both physical and mental disorders. Ever since lithium was discovered in 1817, it has served as a crucial energy source. Today it plays a vital role in sustaining an economy that is oriented towards production and consumption. At the same time, lithium has actually exacerbated the depletion of certain human and non-human bodies - in fact, entire ecosystems.

The Lithium exhibition is conceived as a health resort. Visitors are invited to experience the different stages of exhaustion and recovery to which bodies are exposed today. Here, visitors are encouraged not to look for the nearest power socket to charge their phones, but to recharge themselves, as it were, by means of a series of lithium treatments.