Daan Roosegaarde is a Dutch artist, innovator, and founder of Studio Roosegaarde. The studio develops projects that merge technology and art in urban environments to increase environmental awareness and add an aesthetic dimension that complements technical solutions to environmental problems. Roosegaarde’s mantra ‘Schoonheid’ is a Dutch word with two meanings: ‘beauty’, as in creativity, and ‘clean’, as in clean air and energy.
Light is my language and water is wonder
“As a child I grew up in the polder of the Nieuwkoopse Plassen, a typical Dutch polder landscape, we lived surrounded by water. There are many houses there that are only accessible by individual bridges to the main road. As children we weren’t allowed to play alone outside until we had our swimming diploma because there was water everywhere. I played outdoors a lot, in nature. Being inside, in a house that was constructed and static was boring. Outside was where I could change the environment, interact with it and learn from it.”
Today his playground is in Rotterdam, although it’s an indoor playground, Studio Roosegaarde is light and spacious. Following his studies at the Institute for the Arts in Arnhem, the Academy of Fine Arts in Enschede, and the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, Daan Roosegaarde founded Studio Roosegaarde in 2007, as a place that connects people and technology to improve urban environments and spark curiosity. The studio sits on a forlorn and partially derelict piece of land in the M4H district. “The municipality of Rotterdam offered me a location for the studio but it was a dark building and it didn’t appeal to me. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted this place, abandoned and close to demolition, it used to be a glass factory. We renovated the building and this is where we work, play and create now. I like Rotterdam because it’s not defined by its history so much as by its future. It’s a haven for creatives and makers.” This unpretentious spot is somehow perfect for the internationally acclaimed team of engineers and designers and interestingly it’s just a stone’s throw from the right bank of the Nieuwe Maas river. “If you’ve ever taken a water taxi at night in Rotterdam, you know that it’s one of the most urban experiences you can have in this tiny country. The harbour of Rotterdam, the river Maas and the flow of all that water is definitely inspirational.”
Roger Stuart Deakin, writer and environmentalist
I grew convinced that following water, flowing with it, would be a way of getting under the skin of things. Of learning something new. I might learn about myself too.
The most recent project out of the Dream Factory as Daan fondly refers to it, is Grow; the first in a series of dreamscapes that combines art and science beautifully. Specific light recipes of red, blue and ultraviolet light can enhance plant growth and reduce pesticide use, and this is the scientific research behind the artwork of dancing lights on 20,000m2 farmland, which is an absolute feast for the eyes. It is also the latest project in a portfolio seriously bursting at the seams with dedicated sustainable innovations. “The things that we’ve been making until now are great artworks but they are more than that, they are prototypes of tomorrow’s landscapes.”
“There’s a black shipping container in the studio, which is home to bioluminescent algae. It’s been a project of ours for three years now, they’re a bit like divas that need the right humidity and circumstances so we feed the algae a diet of light, B12 vitamin and a secret ingredient, nurture it and watch it multiply. It’s great to have it here, this 700 million-year-old microorganism, the beginning of life but also the future. The algae responds to touch and movement by emitting light and was used in our Glowing Nature installation. They are inspiration for light or energy solutions in the future where nature is not decoration but a functioning part of our environment.”
When the Minister of Infrastructure invited Studio Roosegaarde to participate in a design innovation programme to update an iconic 32-kilometre long dike protecting the Netherlands against water and flooding, it was a no-brainer to accept. Gates of Light brings the studio’s love for working with light to a unique environment and gives it a futuristic spin. Every day more than 20.000 cars pass this permanent installation which illuminates 60 historical floodgates along the dike. The car headlamps reflect light through small prisms and light up the retro-reflective strips on the buildings. The result is a futuristic landscape of light without the use of electricity and a minimal interference to the environment.
Daan Roosegaarde
We live with water, we fight with water, we try to find harmony
“The Dutch Masters were obsessed with the Dutch sky and the light in the Netherlands and obsessed with the notion of beauty and the beauty of the landscape. I feel part of that landscape tradition but whilst the Dutch Masters painted on canvas, I use smart materials (and dikes).” If you’re from a country where more than a quarter of the total land area is below sea level and you have an inherent dedication to innovative sustainable design then it’s completely unsurprising that water is a recurring theme in your work. “Our relationship with water is interesting because we’re fighting it, but we’re also living with it and then we learn from it, it’s a continuous process. The Dutch have been living below sea level for centuries, it’s actually a very smart landscape but sometimes they forget that. Look at the cultural heritage site of Kinderdijk, to me those windmills were our first robots. Three hundred years ago we built these robots and lived in them, we used them to create our landscape and make it liveable, that’s pretty sci-fi.”
Waterlicht was made at the request of the Dutch Water authorities, whose responsibility it is to manage the continuing struggle against water through policy, planning and building projects. They felt that there was a lack of awareness of rising sea levels and asked Studio Roosegaarde to elevate their role by visualising the very real threat of climate change. Waterlicht went global and was shown in public spaces worldwide, including Amsterdam, Toronto and New York. Thousands of people visited an artwork that left them with a visceral experience of the consequences of ignoring the climate change crisis. “Some visitors were scared and others were mesmerised. This kind of experience creates an environment in which we are not just scared but also curious. Fact and figures won’t change us, because logically we know the sea level is rising but we’re still building condos on Miami beach. I want to create places where people feel connected again because the power of a collective experience makes an impression.”
Daan is not someone who can just sit back and wait for others to solve things. “If we are not the makers of our own future then we are the victims. I’m curious by nature and there is a whole new world to be explored if we have the guts to invest in new ideas.”
So what’s next? “I would love to build an underwater hotel but there needs to be a consequence which makes it worth it. First we need the city to clean the river otherwise no one is going to visit this hotel! We want to activate, not just decorate.” An 80 billion euro underwater glass hotel as an active reminder to keep our water clean? Why not.
This interview was published in the ‘Water’ issue of Sentimental Journal (2021)