Auxetic Landscapes

What happens when humans enter an untouched landscape?

Auxetic Landscapes is on show at Museum Jan Cunen from 11 September 2022 to 15 January 2023 in the exhibition Kunst en Vliegwerk.

Using its exact location coordinates as input, Auxetic Landscapes is defined by an algorithm that produces randomly generated auxetic patterns.

Undisturbed, the mechanical landscape remains static and silent in the space.

Like an organism, it reacts to our presence and slowly comes to life, returning to neutral once we distance ourselves.

The combination of a location-based pattern and the interaction with visitors creates a dynamic field of hills and valleys that is different every time and everywhere.

Auxetic Landscapes shows us the workings of algorithms and how they resemble a landscape or even nature in general.

Algorithms are neutral sets of rules, like rooms without content. Only when humans arrive do they get their purpose, whether that is a good or a bad thing. A landscape subsequently becomes a place people give shape and meaning to.

Auxetic structures

Where most materials shrink in one direction while stretched in the other, auxetic structures increase and shrink in both directions simultaneously — they have a negative Poisson’s ratio.

The design of Auxetic Landscapes is determined by an algorithm that generates random auxetic patterns, developed by the research group of Soft Matter and Biological Physics at Eindhoven Technical University. The installation’s location coordinates are used as input.

The collaboration between scientists, engineers, and artists leads not only to new art but also to innovative medical applications.

Auxetic Landscapes is an artistic expression of Adaptable Auxetics, a research study by Fillip Studios in collaboration with Eindhoven TU (Applied Physics & Biomedical Engineering). The study explores the possible applications of randomly generated auxetic structures and uses the same algorithm as the artwork for the development of a new type of medical stent.

The research group of Adaptable Auxetics is part of Pi Lab, Fillip Studios’ exchange platform for scientists, engineers, and artists.

Auxetic Landscapes is kindly supported by BrabantC and Creative Industries Fund NL.