Join us for a hands-on exploration of the materials we usually overlook, discard, or dismiss as valueless. Led by Enora Cressan, our designer-in-residence at the Clean Lab, this workshop dives into the world of material obsolescence.
Together, we will engage in a series of tactile and visual encounters with dead materials (commonly known as trash), recovered directly from Mediamatic’s site and surrounding water systems. By setting aside our usual biases, we will use touch, smell, and sight to see how we form feelings of attachment, rejection, or curiosity toward these surfaces. Rather than seeing disposables, we will learn to reactivate our emotional connection to materials, opening up a new culture of care for the world around us.
What will you do
1. Introduction: research context & approach (10 min) A brief introduction to the concept ofaffective obsolescence, the role of materials in shaping value and attachment, and the aim of the experiment. The sensory protocol and documentation tools are presented.
2. Sourcing walk on Mediamatic’s site (20 min) Participants take part in a guided walk around the site, during which they observe, select, and collect overlooked or discarded materials. This balade emphasizes attention, slowness, and care, situating the materials within their ecological and spatial context before any evaluation.
3. Sensory evaluation & documentation (30 min) Using a guided document, participants assess the collected materials through successive sensory phases: – touch (blindfolded) – smell (blindfolded) – visual observation Participants record physical properties, emotional responses, and shifts in perception as new senses are introduced.
4. Material transformation, discussion & collective reflection (50 min) Participants experiment with simple transformation techniques (such as weaving, thermoforming, stitching, folding, assembling...), while simultaneously sharing observations and impressions. The workshop concludes with a collective brainstorm and reflection on how sensing and transforming materials can shift perception, attachment, and care.
By moving from collection to sensation and transformation, the workshop seeks to reactivate emotional engagement with surfaces and to imagine alternative relationships with commonly devalued materials beyond disposability.
Enora's work is grounded in the exploration of residual, unstable, or devalued substances (she worked with dust, fish skin, rust, or plastic) as vectors of an ecology of attention. Through their transformation, these materials become hybrid and ambiguous surfaces of interrogation; they unsettle perception and open spaces for dialogue within contexts often distant from dominant ecological discourses.
Full price €35 | Discount price €25 We give a discount to students, stadspas and artists. If this applies to you we might ask to see your kvk nr/portfolio or student card for this option.
Information
31st of January, 15:00-17:00 Attendance limited to 12 people. We maintain a minimum of 5 participants. Please note that this workshop will be held in English. For questions, please send an email toworkshop@mediamatic.nl.
