LithiumLithium

Join us for a Sunday Stroll on 22 August at 2pm, when detour guide Erik Peters will explore the _Lithium _spa with us. Together, we will investigate the parallels between bodily and planetary exhaustion, speculate about alternative energy sources and imagine how the extremes of the future might look.

Join us for a Sunday Stroll on 1 August at 2pm, when Asha Capella will lead us through Lithium. This exhibition, imagined as a spa retreat, invites visitors to experience the states of exhaustion and revitalisation that characterise today's 24/7 economy. Asha will focus on our own batteries: what recharges us, and what drains us?

The final event in the TNL! Lithium series will recharge online visitors with a lecture by architect Christie Pearson on the intricate history of European spa towns and public bathhouses, and their relations to different forms of power. Following that, set designer Katrin Bombe will give insight into the scenography of the Lithium exhibition, staged as a mineral spa.

On 25 October, detour guide Asha Capella takes us through _Lithium. _This exhibition, imagined as a spa retreat, invites visitors to experience the states of exhaustion and revitalisation that characterise today's 24/7 economy. During this latest _Sunday Stroll, _Asha will focus on our own batteries: what recharges us, and what drains us?

This year, over nine days from 17 to 25 October, Dutch Design Week (DDW) transforms itself into a virtual festival. Via ddw.nl, visitors can view and experience three-dimensional exhibition spaces online. Het Nieuwe Instituut is joining the fun with a digital edition of the Lithium exhibition.

How often can we keep recharging our batteries? The treatments in this spa resort are designed to make us think about productivity and the burn-out of people and the planet. Researchers, designers and artists use the element lithium to illuminate the beneficial and harmful aspects of our constant search for energy. Our phones, laptops and electric cars run on lithium. The mineral is also used to treat all kinds of physical and mental disorders. However, lithium mining and use also contribute to environmental damage, the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and oppressive forms of social control. When the cure is worse than the disease, shouldn't we accept the limits of energy and develop new ways of living?