It's already December. Over the past year, the IABR has been actively engaged with the Nature of Hope biennale. For four months, the exhibition was hosted at Het Nieuwe Instituut. The curators reflect on their role during the biennale.
Hani Salih
Over the last four months, the Nature of Hope program has acted as the site of convergence for an array of practitioners, designers, and architects from all over the Netherlands, and beyond. Landing at the Nieuwe Instituut, after many years of travelling around the city of Rotterdam, particular consideration was given to the significance of the IABR’s return to this institution. As a focal point for Dutch architecture and culture, we recognized that this is a moment that can be used to capture the attention, and thus imagination, of the architecture audience in the country to showcase what is possible.
The public program of the IABR was the embodiment of this. The broad scope of the program was evident not only in the knowledge presented at the exhibition, but also in the collaboration with other organizations in the Netherlands. Embodying the need for a more connected and networked way of thinking, we actively collaborated with organizations in Rotterdam to make this exchange of knowledge possible. We worked with organizations such as the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR), where we discussed material realities and how we might imagine alternative and more local flows, featured a beautiful film titled In Vivo by architecture collective Bento. Conversations in this panel started with a discussion of the notion of the Symbioscene, a theory that sees humanity’s future as one that is deeply integrated into nature and ecology symbiotically, and delved into how this could be a starting point for the reorientation of the practice of design.
Another collaboration focused on the challenge of climate action through the lens of policy. Featuring Max Ajl, author of A People’s Green New Deal, the conversation included Rosemarie van Ham, a local policymaker and leader of the Inclusive Climate Action Rotterdam (ICAR), and Ken de Cooman, co-founder of BC Architects, and set out to understand how a new policy movement toward a truly just society can also provide us with the basis for a healthier and happier society.
Engagement with the show, be it through the number of visitors or the attendance at the curator tours, showed that there has been a real hunger for this new narrative for architecture and design. There is a desire for an alternative kind of expo, where hope is present in the invisible strands that connect each of the participants’ works. It was inspiring to watch the conversations that started in the audience spill out into the hallways late into the evening, with each event. I can only hope that they continue to ripple out into the city and beyond.
Alina Paias
I was an associate curator of Nature of Hope. That means I conducted extensive research on specific topics and brought them to the curatorial collective to decide where and how they would fit into our exhibition. I was mostly focused on projects that worked with non-dualist, diverse, and culturally informed definitions of nature, and I also worked a lot to bring in projects that were based on perspectives that have been historically marginalized in relation to the conventional practice of architecture. It was a huge task to facilitate these participations from far away, as we often had to coordinate conversations across different time zones and come up with ways in which practitioners could participate without consuming too many resources to move people and materials around.
I was also the liaison between the Curator Team and the Production Team and, although it was a lot of work, I really enjoyed that task. My personal research focuses on the themes of energy, work, and information in relation to the ‘making’ of architecture, which we call architecture production. I think this affinity and respect for how things get done from day to day, what systems and tools are needed for that, and how they affect the final result helped a lot with communicating with the production team and developing procedures for the work that helped everyone.
I also worked on the public program side of Botanical Monuments. It was truly a joy to be able to meet so many activists and stewards of nature in Rotterdam and to feel even more connected to the city. Through the Botanical Monuments events we were able to bring both attention and resources to these locations, and the IABR became a concrete actor in the ecologies and networks of Rotterdam.
Catherine Koekoek
To produce ecologically sound, regenerative, or sustainable architecture, design and construction processes have to be organized differently. For me, this seemingly simple insight was the central message of Nature of Hope and the foundation of the Practice Place program. Traditionally, the architecture discipline has been highly product-oriented: how a design was created has been considered less important than the end result. However, under the influence of the climate crisis and its increasingly significant social and environmental consequences, the discipline must fundamentally change.
While the exhibition featured numerous inspiring examples of practices already doing things differently, the Practice Place was about action. How do we make this alternative, ecologically friendly way of working more widespread? What tactics, experiences, and strategic alliances do we need to make this happen?
During the biennale, I was at the exhibition almost every day, giving tours to students, policymakers, friends, and family, and preparing and facilitating the Practice Place gatherings. Over the course of six day-long sessions, we brought together groups of 30 to 40 trendsetters from the field to discuss topics such as biodiverse soil, biobased construction, nature-inclusive design, local community initiatives, working conditions, and feminist and equitable building practices. We also organized three local assemblies in Arnhem, Deventer, and Saeftinghe, and together with the journal de Architect, I created ‘de Hoopcast’ – five podcast episodes in the wake of the Practice Place.
Perhaps I am most proud of our collaboration with NAA! (Netherlands Angry Architects), The Architecture Lobby (TAL), and the Dutch branch of the Architects’ Climate Action Network (ACAN NL). This network was launched during a well-attended evening on 19 September at the Practice Place. What all these movements have in common is their efforts to address precarious working conditions in the sector and to link them to a broader, sustainable, and just transformation. The next day, during Work, Labour, Action!, the young Dutch and Flemish activists and organizers were thrilled to learn from seasoned labor union activists like Joshua Barnett and professor emerita Peggy Deamer, who traveled from New York for the occasion. They shared practical advice on building and sustaining a broad, bottom-up movement, with perhaps their most important tip being: Make your meetings fun.
The mostly young, international professionals who attended these meetings are leading the charge for better practices and a livable planet. At the same time, their voices are not widely heard in the Dutch architecture discourse. The fact that we were able to connect their experiences to a growing, new narrative for the design world at the Practice Place made the biennale, for me, a true infrastructure of hope.
Noortje Weenink
As an associate curator, I experienced Nature of Hope as a search for forms of spatial design and research that look to the future with both responsibility and anticipation, involving hopeful practices and projects that are not naïve about the crises we face.
In terms of the exhibition, my focus was on the chapter ‘Resistance as Practice,’ about ways in which architects can contribute to activism and influence housing and climate policy. Personally, I am proud that as a cultural institution we were able to support Extinction Rebellion’s climate activism and highlight different design practices that are not (yet) standard – but should be.
What stood out the most were the collaborations, first and foremost with the fantastic designers, artists, researchers, and experts who contributed to Nature of Hope. The many conversations and the collaborative development of their projects were inspiring, not only in terms of content but especially in terms of working methods. The contributors were open, generous, caring, and enthusiastic, sharing their knowledge and networks without hesitation. This was both instructive and encouraging – not only during the intense process of the biennale, but also for the discipline as a whole. Contrary to popular belief, it seems you do not have to be unkind or harsh to do excellent work – quite the opposite.
Another highlight for me was talking to the Hoopzaaiers, the caretakers and volunteers of the Botanical Monuments. Together with Janna Bystrykh and Alina Paias, I visited many places in Rotterdam that I had never been to before. I was amazed, not only by the richness of the urban landscape, but also by the wealth of stories and knowledge about trees, plants, and animals. These stories deserve all the attention, and our Follywood map and public program contributed to this in a modest way.
In addition to being associate curator, I served as the liaison between the curator team and the graphic designers, working closely with feminist design duo Esther Le Roy and Sarah Cleeremans (Le Roy Cleeremans). They translated the themes of nature, hope, and relationships into the visual design, and I am still impressed by their surprising methodology, colorful designs, and attention to detail.
Scenographers Diogo Passarinho and Gonçalo Reynolds (Diogo Passarinho Studio) supported the concept and development of a sustainable exhibition design, reusing existing materials sourced at the Nieuwe Instituut. The minimal leftover waste demonstrates that we can truly produce exhibitions and biennales sustainably – we even cancelled a container because we produced so little waste.
A special shoutout goes to the Production, Marketing & Communications, and Programming teams. They took on the enormous task of bringing over 80 projects and 125 events to life and to the public. As an IABR ‘veteran’ (this was my third Biennale) I am amazed, each biennale year, by the dedication and expertise of everyone involved – both inside and outside our team.
