Campus

TU Delft water exhibition

One of the most unlikely things you can see at the TU Delft library is a quaint old wooden cupboard full of curious looking glass jars. However, it’s precisely what you’ll find there for the next two months.


Water Donation, an interactive art installation by South Korean artist Myungsu Seo, is on display at the library until January 3. “I believe that the library should create an

atmosphere that encourages students to think beyond the obvious. We host several activities, courses and exhibitions to foster such an environment,” says Marion Vredeling, Program manager Library Learning Centre. The latest addition to the series of art exhibitions hosted by the library, Water Donation presents an aesthetic and artistic dimension to a subject being studied technically across the university.

Vredeling came across Seo’s work at the graduate students’ exhibition of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, which Vredeling visits every year to discover art that will resonate with TU Delft. Given that Water has been the theme for the anniversary year celebrations, Seo’s exhibition seemed like the perfect note to end the year on.

Seo, who studied at the department of glass at the Academie, has been in the Netherlands for the past five years. Over the years, she has worked on several experimental projects which play with the illusion of glass and water. Her last exhibition involved creating giant raindrops of glass filled with clear water.



Preserving memories

This project, Water Donation – Building up a Water Library, began a couple of years ago. Seo collected water samples from wherever she travelled and personally created unique glass jars for each new sample. “According to me, water carries the memories of a place and its people. I am collecting water, and preserving people’s memories,” she says. An interactive installation, the exhibition invites international students of TU Delft to bring back samples of water from their home towns and become part of the initiative. “I would love for people to share their stories with me. In this library of books, this will be a library of water,” says Seo. Around the installation (two antique cupboards with glass jars with samples of water from far flung lands) in the library, Seo has kept vials for students to collect samples in. There is a wall full of images of empty jars, where students can sign their names as a promise for the sample.

“The day we were putting up the exhibition people who were in the library were so fascinated they came and discussed the concept and their own stories with us. One gentleman spoke to us about Delta Works too,” says Seo.  

Seo, an accomplished glass blower, will make unique jars for each water sample. Even the cupboards with jars have been chosen at antique shops around the world. “Each cupboard has a key, which I keep with me. Because I am keeping their memories safe,” she adds.

“When I saw this project, I knew immediately it would be something that would resonate with the students at TU. Not only does it get the students working on water studies to see their subject in a new environment, it also gives international students a chance to share something of their homes,” adds Vredeling.

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