Living Tower Talk #8

Life Beyond Borders

with Joost Janmaat, Marjolijn Boterenbrood and Janneke de Lange

31 May 2024
When does something change from wanted to unwanted? From native to invasive? During this Tower Talk we wonder who determined the boundaries of this. A boundary remains a strange concept, especially when it comes to the hard boundaries that humans set. The territories of animals and plants are formed according to completely different rules. The presentations by Joost Janmaat, Marjolijn Boterenbrood and Janneke de Lange are about these rules and borders.

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Fruiture Nursery detail view of installation at Oosterdok - These are 2 of the 3 Wardian case inspired vehicles for plants that Janneke de Lange is showing in Amsterdam in the Spring of 2024. The exhibition is part of the annual Japanese Knotweed season program at Mediamatic.   Photo by Vu Ha for Mediamatic Vu Ha, Janneke de Lange

Hosts of the evening are Thijs de Zeeuw and Arne Hendriks.

On the same day we are hosting the Gastronomical Summit. If you buy a passe partout for this day you can attend this event for free. More information can be found here.

 

JOOST JANMAAT calls himself a tracker and nature broker. He is the former chairman of the Vliegenbos, expedition leader, founder of the Sky burial society and author of the book Het Wilde Noorden.

He takes us into the world of all those other city dwellers, who are not people. How do these 'liminal species' populate the city? How do they share the (public) space with us and all those other animals, and how does that relate to the 'territory'?

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A Portrait of Joost Janmaat - Jada Maij

MARJOLIJN BOTERENBROOD is an artist. She is doing a long-term underwater project called Growing Connections, Future Skin of the city. Growing Connections because the non-human life that grows there comes from various distant regions, Australia, Black Sea and Mexico. Future Skin of the city because if the sea level rises much higher, the surface of the buildings in the city may look like an underwater work. She created such an underwater work as an experiment in Amsterdam in the Oosterdok (at Mediamatic).

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Begroeid aluminium test-plaatje na twee maanden onder water - Organismen uit het brakke water be'tekenen' het metaal. De eerste zeepokken groeien en het wemelt van allerlei garnaaltjes en ander klein spul. Marjolijn Boterenbrood

JANNEKE DE LANGE is a designer. She imagines a future scenario in which she can grow her own tropical fruit trees in a mobile greenhouse, a 'Wardian case'. Her related project Fruiture Nursery can be seen at Mediamatic until July 14, 2024.

Artist ARNE HENDRIKS has been building pigeon towers of live oyster mushroom mycelium around Mediamatic for 4 years. But what do they actually mean for the city and to what extent do they contribute to our ambition to establish a nature-inclusive relationship with the environment?

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Dancing on the mycelium dance floor -

THIJS de ZEEUW is a landscape architect and nature optimist. He designs environments where both humans and non-humans can live together. He dreams of multi-species societies in which people see animals as other people, just as we do with our fellow homo sapiens.

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Thijs de Zeeuw - Landscape architect and nature-optimist.  Foto: Anneke Hymmen



The monthly Living Tower Talk, curated together with Thijs de Zeeuw and Arne Hendriks, is a collaborative learning process. It takes us on a journey of discovery where the destination is not predetermined and the course emerges during the conversations.

Meal

If you like to join the communal meal together with the hosts and presenters at the end of the program, you can buy a ticket including a meal.

Information

Don't miss the Gastronomical Summit: Rethinking Japanese Knotweed Through Food, before Living Tower Talk #8: Beyond Borders

Friday May 31
18:00 - 19:15 
Ticket: €8,50
Student, artist, Stadspas: €6,00

Ticket including communal meal: 20,-
Student, Artist, Stadspas including communal meal: 14,-

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