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The Sludge Sanctuary





The water purification station “Waternet RWZI” in Amstelveen, Amsterdam, commissioned DesignLab (department of Gerrit Rietveld academy) to re-imagine the process through which waste water is cleaned and new materials are sourced from the sludge that is initially separated from the water.

I documented the visual language used on the premises of this station to indicate the safety regulations. Later on, I digitally manipulated these images and while looking at them I imagined a utopian story that could be read here:      

Long time ago, on The Planet far far away, all forces were coexisting in a genuine peace and equilibrium. It was like a vortex of power, well contained and slowly distributed depending on the needs of the creatures cohabitating on The Planet. Natural dangers were roaming from all the bushes and darkly lit forests but unless needed due to pure survival reasons, no one was stepping on another tail. Each reign would protect each other within their boundaries and would attack only when hungry.      

One day a heat wave stroke The Planet and its creatures fell ill at ease feeling their veins drying out. The elders of all the reigns were meeting in underground hideouts, in between roots and mycelium, in order to talk about the urgent issue and possible solutions. While some of them were certain about their intention of saving as many of their species, others began fantasising about a possible increase in power. The latter could barely sleep for a period of precise 2 months on Earth: their dreams were mixing with a hot reality and they were beginning to loose their identity. They were the first ones to step out of the so well kept cycle of life on The Planet; they decided to travel and settle in new territories where hopefully water won’t be a problem anymore. Unfortunately the process was not pain-free for the other creatures that they had to kill in order to seize their lands. This war left many fields on fire, and few hands were still available for building a new society. Obviously the drought and the new environment brought a series of new issues such as the biological hazards that creeped into the already weakened pack of warriors. Many were reluctant if to continue their reproduction process…

After all why would they push their hegemony forwards if their surrounding was so lousy and uncertain. A trip over the faith of their bloodline left many of these creatures wondering what could be done to improve the future. A common sense of being lost have downed over all these pour souls.      

When there was no more hope that water will ever be able to be enjoyed by the thirsty mouths without risking hazardous diseases, a magic idea grew roots in the head of a young warrior that has recently suffered an accident that expelled her from the high rank of her family. She was firmly convinced that a Sludge Sanctuary is the answer to their ever growing issue: a place where bacterias that are attacking the bodies of The Planet’s dwellers are used to actually purify the water. This Sanctuary would use the Sludge accumulated in the overly used water in order to massage away all the impurities from the liquid that in a final stage would be brought to its original crystal like aspect. Moreover, the Sludge would nurture chemicals that would later on be used in the production of materials such as cellulose and biological plastic, essential for the new lifestyle of these conquering families. Her family supports her idea, seeing the obvious advantages of it. Unfortunately the newly formed society doesn’t have many ears left to hear this efficient solution.

Amsterdam 2022
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