H.e.d.o.n.

Type | Installation    Year | 2022    Project site | Arnhem, Netherlands

Client | Foreland Studios

Hydrogen Explosion Device for Ordered Noise.

HEDON is a sculpture installation that functions as a small replica of hydrogen production/consumption infrastructure. It performs on-demand explosions by igniting an oxygen-hydrogen mixture produced via electrolysis, utilizing a large water column that drains through DC generators to supplement renewable energy. At the brink of the energy transition, with salvation or devastation at play, HEDON explores the premises of power and control that such a mission implies. At scale, the transition means millions of tonnes of new material infrastructure will be produced, formed, designed, shipped, used, and disposed of. We believe this is the time to explore radical alternatives, not only to solve our problems but to impact the culture that produces them.

Method: Building on future scenarios of resource scarcity and energy shortages, the project draws closer to the contingency and uniqueness of waste as a promise for an alternative materiality. Situated knowledge and improvisation substitute control and precision when engaging with the byproducts of civilization. They inform building methods capable of working with structural uncertainty and overcoming crises as valuable design elements. Each piece is singular once it has been deformed from its production-line precision, calling for trial-and-error processes and fit-for-purpose solutions to account for that specificity. A building method creates horizontal collaborative structures where knowledge exchange processes take place and rebuilding shapes out as a communal enterprise. One looks for the piece and the fit with the meaning, the fit with the piece, and the fit with the meaning. If there is no progress, neither is there decline—design as a loose guide.