Ineke Hans explored footprints as part of C-DUTCH (Circular Design Using The Cultural Heritage), a research project of ArtEZ-Arnhem and the Netherlands Open Air Museum. Under the title FOOTPRINT 1850, the outcomes of her research are presented in the exhibition 'Sustainable Dutch Design' in the historic farm Midlum.
FOOTPRINT 1850 compares the social, ecological and economical footprints and impacts of 15 aspects of our daily lives in 1850, 1950, now and 2050. It shows artefacts, historical facts, special calculations by the RIVM (the Netherlands national institute of public health and the environment) and additional facts & figures.
Did we live more sustainably in the past than we do now, or in the future?
Two 'tiny-houses-avant-la-lettre' in the Dutch Open Air Museum were the start of the FOOTPRINT 1850 project:
- The fisherman's house from Marken (~1850)
- Gerrit Rietveld's holiday house (~1950)
1850 is seen as the start of the so-called Anthropocene; the era in which human activity got an irreversible effect on our planet. FOOTPRINT 1850 looked further and researched, compared and shows living in 1850, 1950, now and 2050. Within these four time-frames was looked at the social, ecological and economic footprints and impacts of 15 aspects of our daily lives.
What to do with these insights in our future? The presentation shows the most optimal choices with the least impact on people and the planet. But visitors can also make their own choices and discover the social, ecological and economic consequences of their way of living. To improve your personal footprint, choices have to be made: go on a holiday three times a year like now? you may have to heat your house as in 1850 and live 40 years shorter.
The 15 themes for 1850, 1950, now and 2050:
HUIS & HAARD (HOME & HEARTH),
how do we use energy and recourses?
- lighting
- heating
- cooking
- water & hygiene
- info-gathering
HUIS & HUISRAAD (HOME & GOODS),
how do we handle products?
- building
- furniture & stuff
- luxury
- repairing
- waste
HUIS & HART (HOME & HEART),
how is our well-being?
- food
- clothes
- traveling (for work & leisure)
- youth & being young
- healthcare & being old
research & exhibition design: Ineke Hans
production: Studio Ineke Hans
graphic design: Studio Boot
exhibition during the Netherlands Open Air Museum's Sustainability year 2024, see more