70-year-old Antoon Weemers worked for fifty years as, among other things, a furniture maker. And this year, he is trying something new. Together with Ricky van Broekhoven, he built the project Fluid Resonance, a tool that generates waveforms in water through sound.
Fluid Resonance stems from a collaboration between Ricky van Broekhoven and elderly people with a background in the technology sector in Eindhoven. The project is part of STRP Senior, where knowledge and creativity of both young and old are brought together. Weemers is just one of the elderly who participated in the project. The complete team consists of Dick de Roo, Ed Schaffer, Eduard de Greef, Frans Huybens, Harry Kivits, Jos de Zeeuw, Onno van Tertholen, Renee Peper, and Ruud Mulder.
For Weemers, it is the first time that he has been to STRP Biennale. “And I’m actually not sure what to expect here”, says the retired furniture maker. “I am especially looking for young creatives to work and talk with. I know a lot, and I can do a lot with my hands, but have barely tried anything of the digital age. That’s what I would like to learn from them.”
It is a clash between generations and working methods which results in a common result. “We know a lot of different things. I really think that I am not as creative as the younger designers, but then again, I know how to calculate costs, and how to determine a path from design to product.”
Fluid Resonance
The original idea for the construction came from Van Broekhoven. “He had already been working on it for a while.” During the project Art Route 65, older people worked voluntarily to design innovative, cultural products. “I found a group of comrades who got along well with, and we quickly came across Ricky.” One plus one equals two, and so the group continued to work with the – much younger – designer.
And that collaboration went well. The project that Weemers was working on was chosen to represent Eindhoven during a national exhibition of the Art Route, and then came an exhibition at STRP Biennale.
And that project came faster than it would have fifty, or twenty years ago, according to Weemers. This makes for some funny anecdotes. Just like the time a new part of the project was needed. “I was scratching my head about how I even had to do this again, and when I almost wanted to start drawing, I noticed that Ricky had gone to his laptop and the part was completely drawn within three minutes. I have to get used to that.”
The Fluid Resonance exhibition can be seen every day from 25 March to 2 April at STRP Biennale in the Klokgebouw in Strijp-S. Tickets for STRP Biennale can still be purchased via the website.
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