By Jeanne Tan / 08-06-2010

A 19th century riverside military fortress in the idyllic Dutch countryside surrounds of Acquoy provided the context for a new biennial exhibition series on contemporary design. Hosted by KunstFort Asperen, the first edition curated by Tuttobene entitled DNKTNK features nine Dutch designers working with social and ecological sustainability in design. 

DNKTNK (ThinkTank) explores visions of the future - with a heavy research and process emphasis - from the designers of today. In the three-story brick fort, designers were assigned three to four cavernous chambers. The fort has a double function; in the summer, it hosts art exhibitions while in the winter, the quiet dark interior provides a home for hibernating bats.

With neighbouring spaces on the top floor, Christien Meindertsma and Bo Reudler both illustrated the process of using natural products in their designs. Beginning with the grass that the sheep eat and ending with the knitted Poufs, the final product, Meindertsma took visitors through the stages of how her wool is produced. For the first time - after years of research and searching for the right companies to collaborate - Dutch wool is able to be used in the products. In collaboration with Roel van Tour, Meindertsma filmed the entire process starting with the shearing of the sheep, to washing the wool and then spinning it. As with her previous 'Flax Project', one of the positive outcomes could be the regeneration of traditional Dutch industries like wool washing/spinning or flax production which have gradually disappeared due to globalization. With the aim of renewing our connection with nature, Bo Reudler exhibited two series of furniture which show natural materials in a different light. 'Slow White' series is composed from gathered curved branches while 'Haute Bamboo' uses a particular type of bamboo which, due to a mutation, grows naturally as bulbous stalks. Both are coated in glossy linseed oil paint. A process table laid out the various 'ingredients' needed to make the furniture.

Guarding the basement floor, Studio-Re-Creation's imposing sculpture 'The Samurai' composed from recycled washing machine drums held a striking pose. Over 15 drums - collected over many years - were used to create the warrior with leftovers used for the adjacent lighting installation, 'The Lantern.' If Damian O'Sullivan has his way, Amsterdammers could be growing their food even in the city centre with his proposal to convert discarded tourist canal boats into floating urban greenhouses. Already constructed with a glass roof, the tourist boats resemble a floating greenhouse. Hence 'Boatanic' was born. Arnout Visser showed the spontaneous creations of Kenyan glass artists who were recently invited to The Netherlands to collaborate with Dutch designers at the nearby Royal Leerdam Crystal glass blowing workshop.  

Other designers included Celia Sluijter who used Lokta paper, an ancient material from Nepal, to create paper textiles for her Paper Pillows, Lotte van Laatum who showed community-based projects, Joana Meroz and Stefaan Vervoort who examined the meaning given to an object for it to be called 'ethical' or sustainable' and Anke Bernatot.     

Video interviews with all designers can be seen here.

DNKTNK
KunstFort Asperen
6 June until 30 September 2010

Main image: Christien Meindertsma
Images 1&2: Bo Reudler
Images 3&4: Studio-Re-Creation
Image 5: Lotte van Laatum
Image 6: Joana Meroz and Stefaan Vervoort
Image 8: David Heldt and Victor le Noble
Image 9: Damian O'Sullivan
Photography (except images 1&3): Ilco Kemmere

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