KATOENHUis
Set within the expansive, high-ceilinged spaces of Katoenhuis, a series of installations and exhibitions delve into materiality, technology, and production in design. One series of installations and films rethinks material innovation, exploring how resources are repurposed and reimagined, while a show curated by Wumen Ghua examines the role of AI and intelligence in shaping contemporary design. Together, these exhibitions challenge traditional notions of making, pushing the boundaries of both process and possibility.
Katoenhuis is one of our main venues and host part of the open call applicants that were selected.
The Right Questions: Rethinking Creation in the age of Technology
In an era where technology reshapes our creative and industrial landscapes, the right questions may be more vital than the right answers. This exhibition interrogates the evolving nature of manufacturing and design, stretching the boundaries of what collectible design may mean while embracing works that serve a practical purpose and critically engage with modern technological advancements.
SCAPE Agency’s pioneering micropatterned façades challenge conventional architecture, responding to pressing environmental and societal concerns. Their work suggests a paradigm shift in urban design, where material innovation meets ecological responsibility.
Johannes Offerhaus’ kinetic textile pavilions, rooted in traditional materials and forms, propose a radical rethinking of spatial intimacy. These fluid structures reconfigure how we inhabit and perceive spaces, blurring the boundaries between movement, materiality, and emotional resonance.
At the Katoenhuis, technology-driven installations refuse to offer definitive answers. Instead, they expose the underlying assumptions of our existence, confronting us with profound questions about the nature of being, making, and meaning in a world increasingly defined by automation and digital transformation.
Marga Weimans expands the discourse on identity, materiality, and digital hybridity with The 4c Body, an immersive installation that challenges the limits of fashion and beauty. Centered on the poetic and familial significance of her own afro-textured hair—categorized as 4c—the work honors the unseen narratives and ancestral legacies embedded within Black identity. Female cyborgs, engaged in an intimate ritual of hair-braiding on a spiraling staircase, form a futuristic chain of connectivity and care, weaving together past, present, and speculative futures.
Through these diverse yet interconnected explorations, the exhibition does not dictate conclusions but rather opens a space for reflection—where the right questions guide us toward new ways of thinking, making, and living.
aleksandra Chargeshvili (RU) & Timo Bega
aster & Julian (FR/NL)
ISaBELLa GROS (DE)
Heeina Im (KR)
Interactivist + Scape agency (Chris Kievid & Lars van Vianen) (NL)
sjang niederwieser (NL)
ONLY ONLY STUDIO (LT)
STudio Harris Blondman (NL)
Rick Tegelaar (NL)
Zelt.studio (NL)
MaRGa WEIMaNS (NL)
Exorcise the Candy House
The phrase "the candy house," as in the tale of Hansel and Gretel, symbolises the Faustian bargain of convenience and connection at the expenseof privacy and autonomy. In the original story, the candy house—constructed by an evil witch—is designed to lure vulnerable children, exploiting their desperation and hunger.
This exhibition explores how humans, entangled in the hyperfold era, may find themselves “trapped” in a modern-day candy house of their own making. It poses a critical question: can we still purify and exorcise this haunted house of the digital age, or have webecome the new witches lying in wait for lost prey?
Exorcise the Candy House examines the seductive allure and hidden dangers of the hyperfold. It invites viewers to reconsider the agency of the entities we create and inhabit, questioning whether redemption is possible—or even necessary—within a world of interconnectedconsciousness.
curated by Wumen Ghua
anca Bârjovanu (RO)
Paul Barsch (DE)
Guy Bar-Sinai (IL)
Shai Datauker (NL)
Tilman Hornig (DE)
Ioana Georgescu (RO)
Sophia Schullan (DE)
Ella Wang Olsson (SE/CN)
Xiaoyao Ma (CN)
3029 BP
OPEN IN MaPS
11.00 — 17.00