In the Age of Post-Drought

Lahuis uses a wide range of techniques to subject texts and images to all kinds of natural processes such as evaporation, erosion and combustion. In this exhibition we see a new installation in which words magically appear in water vapor from objects. The objects on display stem from research into the museum’s past as a workshop for steam engines in the 19th century. Archival material that shows construction drawings of these machines surround Lahuis’s steam objects. This work is part of an ongoing series in which Lahuis repeatedly shows the unique, but often unnoticeable, relationship with water that characterizes the location that his work is exhibited in. In this installation Lahuis makes a subtle connection between the history of Le Grand Hornu and the start of the Industrial Age, which is so closely linked to the origins of climate change and the disruption of ecological systems.

Arjen Bangma / Transnatural Amsterdam

About In the Age of Post-Drought

Water scarcity brings with it new and complex challenges. Without water, much of life on earth is simply not possible. The damage caused by water scarcity is already visible in nature and in life in general; many species of plants and animals perish while biotopes become impoverished. The World Economic Forum has stated that water scarcity is the main threat to global development and, according to the World Resources Institute, 37 countries are facing instability in their freshwater supply. For both man and nature, water availability is no longer a given in the face of population growth, rising living standards and climate change. The water cycle is formed by a series of interconnected natural processes that are embodied in different forms: clouds, plants, trees, groundwater, lake and sea water play a role in this cycle, from distribution to consumption. Agriculture, industry, mobility, sanitation, waste generation - the sum of human activities disrupt and degrade the water cycle. In the Age of Post-Drought explores how modest or ambitious design projects, artistic, (bio)technological or hybrid methods can contribute to research on water issues. It is analyzed from the point of view of scarcity, pollution, floods and desertification.

CID Grand-Hornu, Belgium