Farmer in search of style

August 7 - September 27, 2009

Designhuis Eindhoven

Ever since dutch television broadcast a hugely successful reality show called farmer in search of female, a new romantic and realistic view of living
in the country has emerged.
The current financial crisis and our concerns about ecology have contributed to rethinking our existence in the challenging and stressful city, while advances in information technology have participated in setting humans free from a fixed location within the
urban environment.
Man can now live wherever he wants and however he wants at any given moment. We therefore can live like nomads and gather like shepherds: news, knowledge, music, images, objects and food.
The slow food movement has shifted the focus from the exotic and exclusive to a need for the local and the seasonal. Forgotten vegetables and regional
recipes are rediscovered and reinvented. now this movement is spreading to other domains within our lives and “slowing down” becomes a general
and accepted idea.
Everything seems to indicate that rural realities are influencing urban life. The greening of the city and the urbanization of the country will ultimately
lead to the blurring of borders between these two domains. Designers, artists and architects are reflecting upon this exchange of ideas. The life of man and animal will be strongly integrated and the production of food will take place within the city borders. In a search for autarchy, a more
mature and autonomous positioning is requested concerning the chain of food production. New ideas will be born to seed, hybrid and harvest within
the city. Materials will be given by the land and animals and will be treated with respect; they
will carry the honest identity of the fibre and the flock and transform the designer into a conceptual farmer. Several internationallyrenowned
designers already choose to live on farms today.
Form is derived from the romantic pastoral past and seeks the essence of the farm in new materials and images. the land and earth is studied, mapped
and researched and is used to formulate simple and generic tabletop products made from a colourcard of clay from the polder.
The wheelbarrow and the rocking chair are reinvented. The tile stove and pick fork are back.
In a first trial to understand and map this movement, through fifteen installations, Eindhoven’s Designhuis will explore a new lifestyle where humans are seen as an integral part of the ecologic cycle, integrated in the process. Placing themselves on equal ground with agriculture and animal. Humans with respect for life.

with :
mike meire
esther kokmeijer
claudy jongstra
jurgen bey en rianne makkink
koen van mechelen
frank tjepkema,
christien meindertsma
mvrdv
nadine sterk & lonny van rijswijck
maarten kolk
studio job
scholten en baijings
floris schoonderbeek
dick van hoff,
joep van lieshout
joons kim
ton matton
kranen/gille
frederik molenschot
jessica hansson
revital cohen
agata jaworska
rosanne vandeweerdt,
sander bokkinga
david olschewski