Nieuw Zwanenburg opened its doors from 9 to 11 May for a unique three-day public festival full of innovation, art, agriculture and biobased building.
At Nieuw Zwanenburg, a work studio for the future in Oirschot, design, agriculture, science and policy come together to work towards a future where roads, bridges and viaducts are built from biobased materials.
Under the guest curatorship of renowned Dutch designers Lonny van Ryswyck and Nadine Sterk (Atelier NL), in collaboration with Maarten Kolk (Kolk+), the festival presents a rich programme through which they allow visitors to experience the regenerative future.
Central is the exhibition Meandering Maas, in which river clay is both material and metaphor. With a clay coin in their pocket, visitors are invited to experience the river from various perspectives: from stork to policy maker. The exhibition offers a new story about our relationship with water, land and infrastructure.
In addition, visitors could participate in a workshop with local wood with designer Joris Wintgens, attend a Q&A with Margreet van Buffelen (omlab), Faas Moonen (TUe) and designer Anne van Strien who are working on a regenerative living environment through design and imagination, listen to a lecture by former government architect Floris Alkemade, go on an excursion across the country with farmers, and be inspired by a rich selection of new material developments.
Photography: Sean Fisher
