Water is both a curse and a blessing. We are dependent on it: we must drink it, it is essential for farming, and we love it for recreation. Maas Paradox is an exhibition in which designers, artists, and residents consider the impact of climate change on the lives of people in the Meuse region.
The Meuse flows through three countries, along the residential areas of ten million people, where five different languages and twenty dialects are spoken. The river brings great prosperity but also has a downside in the form of floods. For centuries, people in the Meuse region have lived with the threat of flooding and advanced all kinds of coping mechanisms and associated cultural developments. Maas Paradox surveys these experiences and seeks possible answers to the question of whether and how climate change will alter life on the banks of the Meuse.
Artists, designers, and architects, from home and abroad, examine the culture of the Meuse basin through three paradoxes: scarcity and abundance, border and connection, and source and drain. Residents are invited to share their stories as the foundation of the exploration. The exhibition generates a dialogue that looks, in a renewed way, towards the ingenuity of people in times of scarcity and flooding.
Participating designers and artists:
Jorge Bakker - Ursula Biemann - Koos Buist - Klaas Burger - Foekje Fleur - Monadnock - LOLA Landscape Architects - Maider López - Posad spatial strategies - Roderik Rotting - Unknown Fields Division - Untold Stories - Henriëtte Waal with Jenny Stieglitz
At the invitation of Bureau Europa curators Han Dijk and Ruben Pater
The exhibition’s graphic identity is designed by Ruben Pater (Untold Stories).The spatial design is by Han Dijk (Posad) and Ruben Pater (Untold Stories).
Exhibition opening: Saturday 5 November, 17:00 – 19:00
Exhibition dates: 5 November 2016 to 22 January 2017
Admission: €5, €3 for museum card holders, free for students
Location: Bureau Europa
Graphic designs
The exhibition under construction
The opening of the exhibition on 5 November
The exhibition: photo's by Johannes Schwartz
Cultural Resilience in Times of Climate Chang
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