THE WORLD IN A SHELL - polliniferous project

The artist

"We are by far not as close as we want to be. Still the further we go the closer we get .”
Hans Kalliwoda

Hans Kalliwoda's work has since the mid 80's focused on the integration of the spectators into his art works, installations and interventions. His potent mixture of aesthetic and conceptual work has over the years been exhibited in numerous Galleries, Musea and public spaces around the world. His latest project the World in a Shell - polliniferous project (WiaS) is also a highly personal accomplishment, in which Kalliwoda continues decades-long tradition of travel and exchange. Much has happened since he first bicycled across Africa in 1984. His participatory painting he sold to a blind lady at a gallery showing, the Drive-into-the-gallery and 'Living in a shoebox in the middle of the road' installations, the 'European-art-train project' showing on 23 European railway stations and his intervention projects that stimulated Delft University for Technology new paradigms and programs, revealing the thrill of exchange and always invites people into his art. Indeed, his WiaS turns conventional notions of visitor-and-host on its head as he offers hospitality to those who find his extraordinary vehicle - a sort of Earth-bound spaceship - in their back yard.

With the focus on autonomy and mobility he plays the guinea pig of his own experiments. New ambiguous ventures with the San and the Inuit people will bring a new facet of his work to life. As he creates low threshold situations, aiming the works to be accessible to a truly broad audience, these distant cultures are ready to receive him and offered to host his projects.

Thanks to his curatorial experiences, he also invents and tests innovative mediation formats that lead us to experience new models of exhibition making that are relevant to our time. With his interactive art and symbiotic adventures, Kalliwoda brings romanticism and utopia into the reality of the here and now.

"In an inspiring way, it (WiaS) deals with most current problems in our contemporary society while involving new technologies,... in a critical, yet playful way. Therefore, I consider this project to be particularly worthy of promotion."
Stephen Kovats / Artistic Director Transmediale

“These different kind of knowledge production and these different ways of approaching the world from the artistic and the scientific side merged into one project. A kind of hybrid between art and science. Its a new practice where art and science come together.”
Prof. Dr. Rob Zwijnenberg
Art historian with the chair of art and technology at the University of Leiden

"A challenge that we are directly confronted with when looking at urgent issues in sustainability, exploitation of natural resources, ... that take into account the unpredictable variables, or ‘messiness’, of our world. Visionary and thought provoking interdisciplinary projects, such as World in a Shell, are key to facilitate such developments."
Excerpt form the preface in WiaS catalogue by Alex Adriaansens, Director V2

"I recommend (the TUDelft) giving Hans Kalliwoda an honorary degree."
Ute Meta Bauer (MIT)

"This was the same time for me in Delft (TU), I am working there since 1990, that I met two special persons, professor Wubbo Okkels and Hans Kalliwoda."
Prof. Dr. Ir. Han Brezet, Head of the Department for Sustainability at the TUDelft

"I can envision the Artwork to fit in all sorts of international manifestations with the focus on contemporary issues. The project goes beyond the restrictions of national borders and in a pavilion context, one could describe the artist and the artwork to be Roma. You may be so kind to consider my suggestion to see if there are possibilities in supporting this installation within your decision-making capacities."
Rob Doctor, General Director, Berlage institute, Rotterdam