Koelhuis at Dutch Design Week 2024
Koelhuis District Eindhoven is transforming into a vibrant cultural district where Immersive Experiences (IX), new media art and contemporary culture collide. During Dutch Design Week 2024, we offered a stage to talented artist and makers, who uniquely reflect on the rapidly advancing digitalization and its impact on the society. They challenge you to explore new ways of storytelling, implications of AI and experience the limits of immersivity. With 7 different projects inside and outside of the monumental former freezer warehouse, visitors were invited to join on a journey through their worlds and experience the future of art and technology!
Film credit: Convoi Films
Featured installations
Hash Breakdown v2 Silvia Binda Heiserova
The Merge Michele Bazzolli
Baltan Laboratories team
Hash Breakdown v2 Silvia Binda Heiserova
Decentralized Futures by Baltan Laboratories
"Decentralized Futures" exhibition explores the creative possibilities of blockchain and NFTs in digital art. Showcasing the work of eight international artists, the exhibition delves into the future of decentralized technologies and their impact on the art market. Emerging from the ARTeCHÓ project, co-funded by the EU, the works highlight how NFTs provide uniqueness to digital creations and move beyond traditional frameworks. The exhibition examines themes of decentralization, redistribution, and new modes of socio-political organization, offering a glimpse into how these technologies could help shape a more equitable and inclusive future. "Decentralized Futures" will be showcasing the works of eight International artists. The presenting artists are Silvia Binda Heiserova, Paula Nishijima, Merlina Rani, Michele Bazzoli, Cristobal Ascencio Ramos, Carlos Monleon-Gendall, OPN Studio and Dmstfctn.
Baltan Laboratories is a cultural and interdisciplinary lab based in Eindhoven, dedicated to addressing societal challenges through relational and collaborative approaches. Focusing on the complexity of today’s world, Baltan fosters the exchange between diverse disciplines to find innovative responses to environmental, political, social, and economic issues. Believing that a reductionist, Western-based approach is no longer sufficient, Baltan creates spaces for experimenting with new ways of living and thinking. By embracing uncertainty and ambiguity, the lab seeks to develop solutions that address the interconnected challenges we face in a rapidly changing world.
DepthArray-Robin Beekman Credits: Martijn Kuyvenhoven
Robin Beekman
DepthArray-Robin Beekman Credits: Martijn Kuyvenhoven
Depth Array – Reflections by Robin Beekman
“Depth Array – Reflections" is an immersive, site-specific installation located in the basement of Koelhuis Eindhoven. This 360-degree audiovisual experience explores complexities of depth perception. Custom-built light fixtures generate shifting planes of light, while increasing speed amplifies after-images, producing a hypnotic effect. The interplay between light and shadow distorts the boundaries between reality and perception, inviting the audience to push the limits of their sensory awareness.
Robin Beekman is a contemporary artist who manipulates human perception through a diverse range of media, focusing on visual phenomena and the fluid nature of experience. He graduated from HKU Utrecht with a degree in Image & Media Technology. In his work, Beekman often highlight transient moments where light, sound, and movement interact, guiding the audience’s perception and encouraging them to question their sensory reality. By challenging traditional interpretations of visual perception, his immersive installations reshape viewers' understanding of space and depth through temporary, shifting events.
Eigengrau Pavillion Credits: Riccardo de Vecchi
Zalán Szakács Credits: Boudewijn Bollmann
Eigengrau Pavillion Credits: Riccardo de Vecchi
Eigengrau Pavillion by Zalán Szakács
The "Eigengrau Pavilion" is a 360° sensory environment where light and darkness interplay. This unique inflatable space, filled with haze, immerses you in an intimate atmosphere in which the boundaries of the spaces are blurred. The dome takes inspiration from the Movie-Drome (1965) by Stan VanDerBeek, a pioneer artist of the expanded cinema movement, which redefined cinema by returning it to its core elements: light, space, and time.
Inside the "Eigengrau Pavilion", a specially designed circle of light forms a spatial cylinder, leading the audience on an abstract journey that each individual experiences uniquely. The installation challenges the limits of perception, making you question what is real and what is illusion.
Zalán Szakács is an artist who brings together immersive art, scenography and media history research. Through his work, Szakács explores the relationship between space, body and technology, resulting in multi-sensory experiences that include elements such as light, sound, smell, tactility and movement. Szakács’ art installations invite the viewer on a mystical journey where reality and fiction intertwine. Attuned to both the individual and collective experience, it evokes a deeper awareness of the body in space and is capable of transporting the viewer to another place and time.
Fiera del Suono
DROPSTUFF MEDIA
Fiera del Suono
Fiera del Suono by DROPSTUFF MEDIA
“Fiera del Suono” is an immersive audio installation that explores the fair as a historic center of creativity and innovation. Large, abstract carnival attractions and a fortune teller take visitors on a time journey through the history of fairs, where new technologies like photography, electricity and virtual realities were presented for the first time. Using 3D audio and location-controlled headphones, visitors experience a dynamic soundscape of artists, circus horses, and roller coasters. Presented by DROPSTUFF MEDIA, this installation combines advanced sound technology with historical narratives, bridging the past, present, and future of art and innovation at fairs.
DROPSTUFF MEDIA is a media art collective specializing in immersive artworks and interactive experiences. They create installations for public spaces, festivals, museums, and events, combining new technologies with engaging narratives to captivate broad audiences. Their projects, such as "Fiera del Suono," focus on making cultural heritage and creative stories accessible to everyone. Collaborating with institutions like the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, they lead innovative initiatives in media design. DROPSTUFF MEDIA plays a pivotal role in pioneering media art, bridging traditional and contemporary storytelling through immersive experiences.
HOW TO BUILD IN 2030? by KeileCollectief
The exhibition "How to build in 2030?" explores the past, present, and future of our built environment. The exhibition focuses on two areas: the Merwe-Vierhavens (M4H) port in Rotterdam and the industrial Canal Zone in Eindhoven, both set to become vibrant hubs for living and working. At the heart of these developments lie the Keile District and Koelhuis District, cultural centers driven by a dynamic community of makers and a progressive focus on circularity. How are these areas similar, where do they differ, and how can we create a future-proof living environment, ready to face the challenges of tomorrow?
“HOW TO BUILD IN 2030?” is an initiative of the KeileCollectief with contributions by CITYFÖRSTER, De Urbanisten, GROUP A | CARBONLAB, Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven and studioADAMS.
The KeileCollectief is a collective including design studios CITYFÖRSTER, De Urbanisten, GROUP A | CARBONLAB, Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven Architects and studioADAMS. Based in the Keilepand in Merwe-Vierhavens (M4H) Rotterdam, the collective is committed to sustainable urban development by combining the tools of the architect with the knowledge and skills of the broadest possible group. By initiating exhibitions and debates, they encourage knowledge exchange on the future of M4H and similar urban developments.
KOELHUIS: The Rise of a New Cultural District by Concrete Culture
70 years ago, a small Eindhoven hamlet called “the Poeijers” transformed into the industrial area we know today as the Canal Zone. For decades, the area was fertile ground for the dairy giant Campina. Now, anno 2024, the area is on the eve of another major transformation. With the arrival of the Design Academy Eindhoven, de Caai, and the development of Koelhuis District, the eastern side of the city will become the new place for culture. Koelhuis District Eindhoven will emerge as a cultural anchor, developed around the former Campina freezer warehouse, an industrial heritage monument locally known as Koelhuis. The cultural district around Immersive Experiences (IX), new media art and contemporary culture will become a permanent incubator for the creative and tech community to live, work, and present. This exhibition takes you on a journey through the past, present and future of this emerging cultural district.
Concrete Culture embeds art, culture, and technology permanently within urban developments, transforming them into sustainable communities.
Concrete Culture's flagship initiatives include Koelhuis Eindhoven (former Campina vrieshuis) and Katoenhuis Rotterdam (a 5,500m2 former cotton warehouse in the heart of Rotterdam's Maker District (M4H). Both initiatives focus on Immersive Experiences (IX), offering communal workspaces, studios, and presentation venues that actively support creative and technical talent.
Pokka
Mick Thörig
Dylan van Dael
Pokka
Pokka: An Extraordinary Creature Made of Chrome by Dylan van Dael & Mick Thörig
Pokka is a 3D character that embodies the balance between togetherness, individualism, and the loneliness brought by digitalization. Pokka is a shy, introverted chrome figure representing those who feel different or excluded. Although Pokka appears introverted on the outside, its inner world is vibrant and creative. The installation explores how digitalization impacts social interactions and loneliness, featuring various digital and physical versions of Pokka, created through 3D printing and a range of materials in collaboration with technologists, 3D artists, and video artists.
Mick Thörig is a multidisciplinary artist and designer, skilled in creating intricate physical objects, art direction, and 3D modeling. His work has been exhibited at the National Glass Museum Leerdam, Dutch Design Week, and Carré.
Dylan van Dael, a Colombian-Dutch artist and producer, who is releasing his first solo work this September, centered around the 3D character 'Pokka.' Combining music, live visuals, physical art, and 3D art, this project highlights Pokka’s visual identity. Dylan has collaborated with artists like Joost Klein, Naaz, O.G Pezo, and Lucio101.
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Photo credit: Boudewijn Bollmann, Oscar Vinck