Researcher and curator Lua Vollaard wrote an exclusive article for the Third Floor about her findings from the archival research on the Philips semiconductor factory in Nijmegen. How did the “neat girls” with “manual skills,” who played a crucial role in making microchips in Nijmegen,...
Posthuman
Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take the themes explored in our exhibitions to a new level. Do you wear glasses? Do you have contact lenses or a pacemaker? Do you use DigiD? If so, you’re already part-cyborg and have taken your first steps in the ‘posthuman’ era. Discover how designers, artists and scientists are thinking about the future of the human body.
Tim Gouw is a writer and stay-at-home dad. He writes and speaks about (equal) parenthood and the division of roles that comes with it. Exclusively for the Third Floor, he wrote an essay within the framework of the subtheme Women as Homemakers from the exhibition Women as Technology. He wonders: if...
Sex historian and journalist Hallie Lieberman explores a Dutch design legacy of sextoys. In this exclusive article for the Third Floor, she writes how Jandirk Groet, designer of Fokker airplanes, partnered with American feminist porn director Candida Royalle to create Natural Contours.
As part of the exhibition Women as Technology, we have compiled the exhibition texts and the extensive timeline into a special booklet. You can browse the booklet here.
Thijs Gras is a historian and ambulance paramedic. He has published several books on the history of ambulance care, but he also maintains a particular interest in the history of incubators. Exclusively for the Third Floor, he wrote an article on the phenomenon of the ‘incubator as...
The exhibition Women as technology features a timeline of the themes of emancipation of women in the Netherlands, laws and regulations and development of technology. In this article, you will find a more detailed explanation of the theme development of technology.
The exhibition Women as Technology highlights several women from past and present. Here you can find an overview.
The exhibition “Women as technology” features a timeline on women's emancipation in the Netherlands. In this article, you will find a more detailed explanation of this timeline.
The exhibition 'Women as technology' features a timeline on laws and regulations in the Netherlands. In this article, you will find a more detailed explanation of this timeline.
The womb might well be the most discussed and regulated female organ in history. Not as part of the body, however, but as an abstract, reproductive object.
Before ‘computers’ were machines, the word was used to describe women who performed complex calculations. Their work was indispensable, but was undervalued in terms of both status and pay.
Although domestic technology is seemingly designed to reduce work, it has mostly served to heighten the existing division of roles within the home.
Rather than being futuristic fantasies, hyperfeminine robots in movies and comic books reflect deeply rooted gender stereotypes. Their design is rarely neutral: they are slender, sensual and obedient – tailored to the male gaze.
In an age where our lives are inextricably tied up with new techniques and technologies, it’s important to pause from time to time to reflect on how these things are influencing both us and our society.
Heera Shin researched the development of metaverses and avatars and asked herself: how do we care for this growing number of avatars, our digital identities?
As not to get left behind as digitalisation rapidly develops, FashionUnited has compiled a selection of terms and words that are imperative to understanding this vast new realm.
The short history of digital fashion.
Afgerukte ledematen, ontbindende lijken en afstotelijke monsters. Net als in het posthumanisme staat in gothic het lichaam centraal. Toevallig? Volgens curator Tomas van den Heuvel niet.
In what is also known as 'the Inflatable Era', inflatable architecture was manufactured as a prerequisite for a new, nomadic way of life. Space travel served as the inspiration for these capsules. However, are these high-tech hide-outs post-human or not?
Posthuman; once your eyes are opened to it you see it everywhere. But what is it? In this recurring series, curator Fredric Baas explains. In the first column, Baas focuses on the changing human body, something Austrian designers were already investigating in the 1960s.
The 'Facial Weaponization Suite' by the American activist and artist Zach Blas is a protest against biometric facial recognition in security cameras. He circumvents this technology, while at the same time exposing the inequalities perpetuated by surveillance of...
Could a machine ever satisfy our need for a hug? The designer Bart Hess talks in this video about Lucy McRae’s work Future Day Spa.
Research assistant Moyra Besjes talks here about The Fabricant – a digital couturier whose collections have never seen a needle, thread or fabric. The materials used to make these designs are algorithms.
Sales of sex toys rose 94% during the Covid crisis and the development of Virtual Reality porn has also shifted up a gear. What role might virtual and digital sex play in a physical world?
Podcast on the steadily shrinking divide between human and machine. What is the potential for a deep, intense relationship with artificial lovers?
Interviews with cyborgs, cyberbullies, neuroscientists and a police chief, who reflect on whether computers are changing us as human beings.
Why are people so obsessed with the idea of immortality? Meet the transhumanists who are convinced that a cure for ageing is within reach and that within a few decades, we’ll no longer face death
Paul suffers from anxiety attacks. But rather than going to a psychologist, he decided to write a computer program to solve his problem.
How a simple chat robot from the 1960s turned out to meet a deep-seated human need.
From Invisibilia – our favourite podcast. What happens when you give artificial intelligence your unconditional love?
The works in the part 'Beyond The Body' of the exhibition BodyDrift have left the human body behind. They show how manipulable we have become both physically and mentally, and ask us to consider how much ‘self’ we still retain.
The body is becoming increasingly analysed and digitized, with and without our knowledge, steadily blurring the boundary between the private and public sphere. Explore ‘The Biometric Body’ in the exhibition BodyDrift – Anatomies of the Future.
The exhibition BodyDrift – Anatomies of the Future includes two death masks by Neri Oxman. Part of her Vespers series, they refer to a centuries-old tradition of death masks, but are 3D-printed and based on specially developed algorithms inspired by structures from nature.
These seven novels, which touch on the themes raised by the exhibition BodyDrift – Anatomies of the Future, were chosen as favourites by our museum staff.
Fredric Baas, curator of BodyDrift – Anatomies of the Future, spent two years researching the ‘posthuman’ theme. He shares the fruits of that research in this series of articles.
The works shown in the part 'Better Bodies' of the exhibition share a fundamental belief in the human body. The body is extended, embellished, defended or armed, ready to face the future.