Algae, mycelium, shells, blood, sweat or waste are increasingly used by designers to replace more polluting materials and to mitigate the environmental impact of their work. Designers source, forage, cook, mix, grow materials, and later recycle and reuse them as they reach the end of their life. Finding alternative energy sources in wind, solar and bio materials to power processes and outcomes is also at the core of contemporary design practice. In this event, designers will be joined by artists, performers, biologists and anthropologists to reflect on this continued human search for materials and unlimited energy.

Alchemist, Designer celebrates both the completion of the New Material Award (2009-2018) and the launch of the new publication Lithium. States of Exhaustion. The programme consists of two parts, with the emphasis before the break on the development, application, and processing of new materials, and afterwards on the search for sustainable sources of energy. Meet previous nominees of the New Material Award, hear their interpretation of the meaning and legacy of design, and how they position themselves in the chain from raw material to waste. Finally, together with the editors and several contributors, celebrate the publication of Lithium. States of Exhaustion!

Programme

• 15:45 Doors open
• 16:00 Performance, The Posthumous Aural (2021) by artist Luis Lecea Romera
• 16:15 Welcome and introduction by Aric Chen, general and artistic director of Het Nieuwe Instituut
• 16:20 New Material panel discussion with previous New Material Award nominees Daria Biryukova, Roos Meerman, and Basse Stittgen, moderated by Maarten Westerveen
• 17:10 Break
• 17:25 Book launch of Lithium. States of Exhaustion (Ediciones ARQ and Het Nieuwe Instituut, 2021). Editors Francisco Diaz, Anastasia Kubrak, and Marina Otero Verzier in conversation (live and online) with Pedro Alonso, Godofredo Enes Pereira, and Emily Martin
• 18:25 Drinks

Lithium. States of Exhaustion.

Since its discovery, lithium was presented as a cure for the exhaustion that the capitalist economy exerts on bodies. Prescribed for treating mania and depression since 1817, lithium is today better known as a vital element for the transition to renewable energies. Yet, the increasing dependence on its extraction is resulting in the degradation and collapse of entire ecosystems. On a journey through salt flats in Bolivia, evaporation pools in Chile's Atacama Desert, and European spa resorts, Lithium. States of Exhaustion take us to the subjects and objects powered by this extraordinary element. Published by Ediciones ARQ (Chile) and Het Nieuwe Instituut, this bilingual and bipolar book brings together the arguments of architects, academics, lawyers, astronomers, biologists, philosophers, journalists, and activists on lithium extraction, pharmacology, and mental health.

New Material Award

Raw and used materials, like the products they make, are part of a chain. They have a history, taking on a temporary form before being incorporated into a waste stream from which new materials and products can be created. The synchronicity between the cycles of formation from materials and the life cycle of the designed environment has disappeared, especially with technological developments shaping our understanding of design. This was not initially seen as a problem, but this design perspective saw the earth as a seemingly inexhaustible source ready to be exploited. Designers are increasingly aware of their effects in the chain and, where possible, they intervene. In our daily actions, designers can not only develop an awareness of the consequences of our choices, but also offer alternatives.

The Posthumous Aural

The Posthumous Aural, by intermedial artist Luis Lecea Romera, occupies a conjectural space of grief through the vibrancies of non/living matter. A sonic act of inquiry on the material and cultural performances of the dead body-object, as well as the necropolitical and spatial consequences of its accelerating commodification.