The Groninger Museum is an art and art history museum in Groningen, The Netherlands with exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, design, photography, fashion, installation art, applied arts and archaeology. The building of the museum consists of three main pavillions, each of them designed in the most typical way of one architect: Philippe Starck, Michele de Lucchi and Coop Himmelb(l)au. Alessandro Mendini designed the entrance building, the Golden Tower. You can find this radically modern structured museum in the canal opposite of the Groningen railway station.
Daan Roosegaarde (1979) is a Dutch architect, artist, creative thinker, innovator and maker of social designs which explore the relation between people, technology and space. Roosegaarde has been driven by nature's gifts such as light emitting fireflies and jelly fishes since an early age. His fascination for nature and technology is reflected in his iconic designs such as “Smart Highway – Van Gogh/Roosegaarde Path” (roads/bicycle path which charge from sunlight during the day and glow at night. The Van Gogh Path is made of thousands twinkling stones inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night), “Waterlicht” (a virtual flood simulates rising sea levels by using LED lights and lasers to create the sensation of being underwater), “Smog Free Project” (the first smog vacuum cleaner in the world which makes jewellery from smog), “Intimacy” (a fashion project that explores the relation between people and technology. Its high-tech garments are made of smart e-foils which become transparent based on the wearer's interactions with people, creating a sensual play of disclosure).
The Groninger Museum presents his first major museum project “Presence”, which evokes visitors to become aware of their own presence in a very unique manner. The exhibition is open until 12 January 2020. The Studio Roosegaarde in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, is a social design lab, where Daan Roosegaarde and his team of designers and engineers connect people and technology to improve daily life in urban environments and spark imagination.
Roosegaarde has exhibited at museums such as the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Design Museum in London, Tate Modern, the Mori Art Museum in Tokio, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, Google Zeitgeist and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He won numerous international awards such as the Shenzhen Global Design Award.
Please enjoy the short but very special talk I had with Daan Roosegaarde at the first day of his solo exhibition “Presence” at the Groninger Museum, Saturday 22 – 2019.
With many thanks to Daan Roosegaarde, Bastiaan van der Sluis, Cezanne Noordhook, The Groninger Museum, Karina Smrkovsky and Sarah Fopma.
Cover Picture by Daan Roosegaarde/Seoul Digital Forum 2015.