Art for a sustainable age
Sustainability. A term that has shaken off any buzzword-like connotations to become a rallying cry for the modern era. It categorises a movement that is still taking shape, one that’s seen as the answer to the unfolding situation that is the climate crisis. Industries, individuals, and initiatives are defined by how sustainable they are, from art to automotive. Especially when they come together.
Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker creates to inform. His pieces, made from sustainable materials, invite participation from the user, symbolising their power to influence change while also creating an emotional link between the art and its audience. When it came to his latest art installation, a piece created together with Polestar entitled “We Harvest Wind”, Biersteker used both bio-based flax composites and 3d-printed recycled plastic. For the former, he turned to the Sustainability and R&D teams at Polestar. For the latter, he turned to The New Raw.
The New Raw is a design and 3D-printing studio founded by architects Panos Sakkas and Foteini Setaki. Working exclusively in recycled plastic, The New Raw “crafts plastic waste with robots”, recontextualising one of the world’s most widely used industrial materials as art.