Supplementary program

Sunday 4 September – Kim van den Belt
Start 2.30 pm | Length 45 minutes | Admission 2.50

Kim van den Belt conceived Kaia, a living CO2 filter. Kaia is about the great challenge and the incredibly complicated topic of CO2. She researched new sustainable CO2 filters using algae, specifically the species: diatoms. Kaia, the object, absorbs CO2 and through photosynthesis oxygen is released again. Every two months Kaia can be harvested. With the end product, the biomass, new materials such as biodiesel or even glass can be made.

In her lecture, Kim van den Belt explains why and how we can find a way to also give something back to nature in new developments. For her, a design would never be successful if we, in the final product, only took from nature.

During UtrechtDownUnder, Kaia can be admired in the Tuinkas.

Saturday, September 10 – Hans van Lunteren
Start 14.30 hrs | Length 45 minutes | Admission 2.50

Hans van Lunteren talks about his art-green projects. He poses the question what can you, as a visual artist, contribute to the development of a residential environment if you feel that a statue on a pedestal is no longer sufficient?
This question underlies the various art- green projects that Hans van Lunteren has realized over the years.

In his lecture he will elaborate on the genesis of the Sjanghaipark (1970-present) which can be seen as one of the first projects in the Netherlands in which artists, together with residents, took charge of the design of the living environment as a process in time itself.

In the lecture he also talks about his first seedling project, which he realized in the prison in Vught (2005-2012), commissioned by the Rijksgebouwendienst. And Hans takes us in his lecture to De Gesloten Tuin, municipality Oosterhout (2006-2008), De Verlaten Tuinen van Geesinkveld. Diepenheim (2017), The SeedlingsPocketPark (2018-present) and the project Accidental Green, Seedlings of the City (2021-present) municipality of Utrecht.

Sunday 18 September – Arne Hendriks
Start 14.30 hrs | Length 45 minutes | Entrance 2,50

Artist and art historian Arne Hendriks is concerned with sustainability and people. He comes up with radical solutions. In his ongoing project The Incredible Shrinking Man, he looks at the possibility of shrinking man himself. After all, then his footprint is smaller.
In the lecture, he talks about this project and his resulting recent research. He connects the smaller man with his research on the protein transition at the University of Wageningen. Eating more plant-based protein is a practical fulfillment of the desire to reduce our footprint. At the same time, this shifting of agricultural priorities also poses a risk. What will happen as we shift our attention to the sea? How can we avoid making the same mistakes that led to the depletion of agricultural areas? How can we as a species establish a different relationship with our plant environment?

Arne Hendriks’ lecture connects with the symbiotic installation and (concept) restaurant found in the Noordertuin at STECK.

Saturday, September 24 – Anna J. van Stuijvenberg
Start 2.30 pm | Length 45 minutes | Entrance 2.50

Anna J. van Stuijvenberg takes us into a proliferating world of plants. Depending on the incidence of light and the position of one’s own body, a branched reality unfolds in which micro and macro, cells and stars keep each other in balance.
She tells about the creation of some of her installations and drawings. The installation that stands outside the Noordertuin, Back and Forth (2014), came about during a work period in Norway. There she was captivated by the history of the forest, which long ago – centuries in fact – was transformed from an oak forest to a coniferous forest by the hunger for wood from the Netherlands.

Sunday 2 October – PJ Roggeband
Start 14:30 | Duration 45 minutes | Entrance 2,50

Deadly trees, obscure publications (Flora Magica), poisonous seeds and the bewitching wonder bean; PJ Roggeband can tell an inspired story. His challenging concept Inslaaptuin (Sleeping Garden) also gets the necessary attention in his lecture. The Sleeping Garden is a place where you can choose for a green soft death with ‘helpful’ seeds and plants from the euthanasia do-it-yourself kit.
Artist and garden enthusiast PJ Roggeband has a penchant for the whimsical and vicious aspects of trees and plants. He delves into ethnobotany and collects bygone folk customs and controversial rituals.