Friday 23 October 2020, the jury selected the three finalists of the design challenge Give a Voice to the North Sea at NEMO’s De Studio.
The jury, chaired by Daan Roovers, lecturer in Philosophy and Philosopher Laureate of the Netherlands, consisted of the following members: Peter-Paul Verbeek (Professor of Philosophy of Technology, University of Twente), Antoon Vandevelde (Em Professor of Philosophy, KU Leuven), Louise Schouwenberg (Head of the Contextual Design Master’s, Design Academy Eindhoven) and Huub Dijstelbloem (Professor of Philosophy of Science and Politics, UvA)
Have a look at the recordings of the jury day here.
THE WINNERs are
– A Voice for the Eel: Daniel Garcia, What you humans call North. Find out more about this project here.
– Underwater Noise: Jos Spijkerman, Marieke Druiven, Marina Sulima, Leah van Oorschot, Florida Visser, Hugo Heinen, Tjesse Riemersma and Jesse Havinga, Speaker for the Deaf. Find out more about this project here.
– Future of the Delta: Maarten Meijer, Eileen Stornebrink, Willie Vogel, Dennis Hamer and Charlotte von Meijenfeldt, Oosterschelde Negotiations. Find our more about this project here.
Three wonderful and inspiring projects that speculate on how we can see non-humans as political actors. The three finalists were presented to the public in NEMO’s De Studio at the exhibition Voices of the North Sea, 21 – 25 November 2020.
About the design challenge give a voice to the North Sea
What does the political voice of a crab, an eel or a porpoise sound like? How can non-humans best be represented in our democracy? The French philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour, winner of the Spinozalens 2020 calls for a ‘Parliament of Things’ in which non-humans should be given a political voice. His call today appears more urgent than ever, as the Earth seems to be ‘hitting back’ with forest fires, melting icecaps and pandemics.
The Embassy of the North Sea, the DesignLab/PhilosophyLab of the University of Twente and the International Spinozaprijs Foundation called upon students at all Dutch and Flemish universities and academies to take part in the design challenge Give a Voice to the North Sea. The aim of the competition: to come up with an instrument or method related to one of the three North Sea cases A Voice for the Eel, Underwater Noise & Future of the Delta and representing the interests of non-humans while linking technology, human /non-human and society.
More info about the design challenge you can find here.
Welcome to the Parliament of Things
The design challenge Give a voice to the North Sea was part of the educational and public programme Welcome to the Parliament of Things which was organised in the context of the awarding of the Spinozalens to Bruno Latour, 24 November 2020 in Felix Meritis. Read more about this manifestation here!
