Future Materials is a multidisciplinary platform that promotes and disseminates knowledge about sustainable materials. Its core aim is to support the transition towards ecologically-conscious art and design practices.
At the heart of the project is the Future Materials Bank, an online archive of sustainable materials developed by artists and designers from all over the world. The website aims to democratize available knowledge and trigger inspiration for future research.
The Future Materials Lab complements it with a physical collection of material samples. In this space, practitioners can check the material samples and ask for specific advice concerning their applications and possible developments.
Future Materials, Photo: Jesse Adler, courtesy of CHILL and the Jan van Eyck Academie
The online and offline dimensions of Future Materials are bridged through the Future Materials Encounters, a program of workshops that aims to connect the different communities of the program and to foster dialogues about, through and with materials.
To support material experimentation, the program has also started the Future Materials Fellowship, a short-residency program that offers artists and designers time, space, and infrastructure to further their material research.
Credits
Future Materials is a project by the Jan van Eyck Academie. It receives support from Innovationlabs, a program on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Creative Industries Fund NL, and CLICKNL. Previously supported by the DOEN Foundation.
Future Materials is part of GALA – Green Art Lab Alliance and collaborates with the MA program Material Futures at Central Saint Martin (UK) and with CHILL – Chemelot Innovation and Learning Labs, at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus (NL).
