An interspecies celebration

  • Inhuman Carnaval 

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    How does it feel to be an earthworm, bee, plant, or fungus?

    Open costume lab, workshops, exhibitions, party and more.


    During Dutch Design Week, Baltan Laboratories celebrates biodiversity together with Mediamatic! How can we break out of our anthropocentric worldview and learn to feel more empathy for the other species on the planet? Can we train ourselves to see the world from a non-human perspective by wrapping ourselves in pink velvet and becoming an endangered pink velvet worm, for example?

    People are just beginning to discover the richness of our planet's biodiversity, and with it the value of each individual species within our ecosystem. At the same time, this biodiversity is shrinking at a great rate. We believe that empathising with a species and making a costume is a good starting point to become more aware of a large abstract problem, such as the loss of biodiversity.

    Open Costume Lab

    During Dutch Design Week, we are hosting an open costume lab among many other activities in which we invite artists, designers, and passersby to dress up as the amazing species of our ecosystem, and celebrate the biodiversity of our planet. For more than a week there will be room for experiment and design research to mimic various species in fabric and other (sustainable) materials. We will also host an ongoing program of master classes, workshops, lectures and exhibitions around bio-diversity and design.

    The craziest/most beautiful/original costumes and techniques that we see this week, will be translated into instructables, which we will publish in a DIY-guide for carnival 2022, where the project continues…

    Get inspired by designs from renowed artists, join a fashion design workshops, experiment with costume making, transform yourself into in-human species, and dance with us at Natlab and beyond!

    The costume lab is guided by designers Kristin Maurer, Anouk Beckers, and Kiki van Caspel.

    More info via Mediamatic website

    Workshop Species Spectacle
    with Conny Groenewegen, and Nina van Tuikwerd
    Date: October 19th 13:30 - 20:00

    A workshop that combines fashion design and movement. Can we make a costume from the perspective of feeling and movement? Have you ever wanted to learn about the habitat, behavior, specific needs, and expressions of an animal or plant? This workshop experiments with learning to interpret the voice of species by creating and shaping a care manual. Using the facilities of the CostumeLab, you will learn to give expression and life to your chosen species by using techniques such as block printing, transfer, embroidery and appliqué on used T-shirts and reshape them into a statement piece honouring the plethora of species.

    More information & tickets

    Inhuman Party - an interspecies celebration!
    Date: 21 October 19:30 - 23:30
    At Natlab - Grote zaal

    Party to celebrate biodiversity with costumes! Free beer for non-humans!
    In order to get an invitation, we ask you to join one of our costume labs and events of the week.

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