Eindhoven 2019 – The second chapter of the GEO-DESIGN exhibition series, an annual collaboration between Design Academy Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum, focuses on junk. The ultimate – and maybe last- resource/menace designers ‘should’ work on for a better future. At Dutch Design Week, alumni of Design Academy Eindhoven explore the most pressing global issue of our times. 

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The GEO-DESIGN platform was created by Design Academy Eindhoven in response to the urgent need for an experimental space and tangible support for young designers and researchers. Half of the projects is on display at the Van Abbemuseum, the other half is hosted by businesses around the city, “taking the exhibition beyond the walls of the institution and expanding its relationship with the city,” explains curator Martina Muzi.

Compute by Schimmel & Schweikle

CGI – the acrnoym for Computer Generated Images – has become a crucial tool for creating spectacular destruction in contemporary cinema, freeing it from the physical realities of set building and budgets. Using 3D modelling and animation software, Schimmel & Schweikle has recreated sites of destruction from the top ten most-watched American movies of the past decade, contrasting the speed of consumption of the moving image with the time it takes to reconstruct it.

Salaula by Lotte de Haan

The trade in donated second-hand clothes from the west to Africa is worth $5 billion per year. Through the creation of a series of sunshades, Lotte de Haan investigates the impact of this import industry at various levels within the Zambian economy in the face of growing competition from China.

Plastisphere by Shahar Livne

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch – the enormous continent of floating garbage –  is creating an arcipelago of plastic islands across the ocean. The country-sized junk agglomerates are home to a vast new human-made community of microbial life that scientists have dubbed the Plastisphere. In an immersive installation, Shahar Livne recreates an experience of this hidden community of life forms through sound, smell and visual design.

The Oceanic Pole of Undefined Liability by Giacomo Nanni and Julian Peschel

Space junk is usually associated with the ring of debris orbiting our planet, but it often reenters the atmosphere. Combined with controlled splashdowns, this is adding space waste to the marine environment. Giacomo Nanni and Julian Peschel explore space junk as a terrestrial issue at Point Nemo, also known as the Spacecraft Cemetery.

The Isolated System of Junk in Gaza by Ines Glowania

Due to the hard border with Israel, products can enter the Gaza Strip but garbage can’t get out. Ines Glowania studies the pressure of growing mountains of waste that are rapidly making the Palestinian territory uninhabitable. “This closed system of junk becomes a window into the daily lives of Gaza’s residents.”

Unchecked Chain by Tellurico

Tellurico investigates some of the recent causes and effects of the garbage-collection crisis in the Southern Italian region of Campania which has changed the suburban landscape around Naples. The multidisciplinary design studio imagined a junk district where garbage has been stored for almost 15 years.

Modern Aviaries by Héloïse Charital and Ismaël Rifaï

Junk is changing the habits of wildlife around the world. Héloïse CharitalandIsmaël Rifaï look at the case of the white stork and how the bountiful landfills of Spain, Portugal and northern Morocco have turned the long-distance flyer – once an international symbol of migration – into a sedentary bird.

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All photos: courtesy of Dutch Design Week and Design Academy Eindhoven.