Daan Roosegaarde founded his social design lab, Studio Roosegaarde, in 2007 to work on projects which integrate technology and art in urban landscapes. He often employs light and sensing technologies in his work. One of his critically-acclaimed installations, Waterlicht, explores the role of water in futuristic environments.
It raises awareness about its significance and the need to provide clean water in living habitats. The installation has been created as a site-specific artwork in various cities around the world such as Toronto, London, Paris, New York, Rotterdam and Dubai’s Jameel Arts Centre.
What was the inspiration behind the Waterlicht installation and what are its highlights?
The artwork, Waterlicht, is about the power and poetry of living with water. It is a combination of LEDs, lenses and humidity. It is not a traditional artwork as a bronze or steel sculpture but more a second layer of light in the existing landscape. It upgrades reality, which is my core design philosophy, too.
A city like Dubai has a strong relationship with water from its history, using the waterbodies to grow and explore. Waterlicht shows the power of water and inspires to think about our relationship with nature and learn from nature. For example, can we generate energy from the water waves? Or how do we provide clean water for everyone? So Waterlicht is about water innovation.
But most importantly, Waterlicht triggers imagination, a collective experience to wonder how we want our future to look like.
Who do you create for?
It is my way to make sense of the world around me. I look outside my window and I do not understand the world around me; the traffic jams, the air pollution, the rising water levels. I try to improve by creating new proposals. It is great to see large groups of people connecting with the work and the ideas, and then make it grow.
Do you ever feel that so much design around us is, in fact, contradictory to the sustainable movement? Are we producing too much?
Yes, design is not about making more chairs, lamps and tables but about improving life. I believe true beauty is not about another Louis Vuitton bag but about three clean necessities: air, water and energy. These are our future values.
What are some of the best urban practices from the Netherlands, which can be embraced by others?
We can learn a lot from each other. For example, the way energy is produced in the Netherlands is really embedded into the landscape, such as wind energy. The traditional windmills like Kinderdijk from the year 1730 actually became very popular tourist attractions. Perhaps, we can…make flexible solar dresses and suits, so we can charge our phone ourselves. This integration with technology and lifestyle gives many opportunities for sustainable cities. It is also very cool, in my opinion.
Who is your inspiration, or is there someone whose work you admire?
I feel part of the Dutch landscape tradition influences my thought process. It’s incredible how more than 1,000 years ago, they learnt to control water resources with their design and management. My Chinese friends say, we are crazy to fight against water; they wonder why we don’t just move to Germany. But we do not, we stay and use design to make our own habitat. That kind of thinking is inside of me.
Dutch masters, such as, Ruysdael, with their obsession for skies and light, trigger me. I look at the American artists, James Turrell and Walter de Maria. At Studio Roosegaarde, we follow closely the work of architects Herzog & Meuron and Thomas Heatherwick (who we have had the pleasure to work with). I look at nature, such as, ant hills and flocks of birds. Jameel Arts Centre and the new Louvre Abu Dhabi are very inspiring and powerful places. Architecture and nature science is really important.
What do you reckon will be the next best innovation for mankind, especially in urban environments?
It’s a good question. I think the new innovations are about technology giving something back to mankind. I mean real value, not just a like on social media. I would love to have a clean air buddy floating above my head to give me clean and cool air in hot places like Dubai. Or have a solar suit to charge my iPhone. Design and technology can work together to improve life and inspire each other. That is the real future.