NOUD
SLEUMER

Noud Sleumer is a conceptual designer whose role is to critique ‘the act of making’. Within self-initiated and explorative projects his focus is trained on methods of deconstruction and reduction. Simplicity is the tool that underlies these approaches and enables Sleumer to create new playgrounds of creativity, in which we can collectively re-examine our relationship to man-made matter. 

THE GLOBAL SOUVENIR SHOP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Noud Sleumer, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

A re-mining renaissance out of human and mineral extraction

With the dominance of global brands and increasingly inaccessible technological components our experience of technology tends to be uniform and uni-directional: we buy a device that is identical to millions of others and then throw it away. Such an experience simplifies and neglects taking into account the rich and diverse combination of factors that are at play in the creation and processing of these devices.
A smartphone involves mining minerals as much as it does mining labour. In other words, it involves extracting resources as much as extracting human energy. Yet our lack of skills, agency and creativity in relation to our electronic devices lies in stark contrast to those found in the parallel worlds they are mined, produced and discarded in.

The Global Souvenir Shop approaches the re-mining of minerals not just as a method of reusing raw materials for economic or ecological gain, but as a tool to extract the social, geographic and cultural inscriptions that are alive in the production and processing of smartphones. These ‘local memories’ of the global system of production are displayed in a triptych, illustrating a narrative of local material consumption intertwined with a global market.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture Almichael Fraay - © Temporary Art Centre

 

Picture Almichael Fraay - © Temporary Art Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture Almichael Fraay - © Temporary Art Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picture Almichael Fraay - © Temporary Art Centre

 

 

Picture Almichael Fraay - © Temporary Art Centre