Daan Roosegaarde

As a social design lab, Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde and his team channel art, technology, and design into luminous, often interactive installations that reimagine (urban) spaces – embodying a fusion of beauty and cleanliness to promote sustainable living and show the possible landscapes of the future through (ephemeral) tech art. They connect people and technology in installations that enhance daily life in urban environments, and that spark the imagination.

Internationally acclaimed works include SPARK (biodegradable fireworks), Van Gogh Path (a glowing bicycle path), Waterlicht (a virtual flood showcasing the power of water), the Smog Free Tower project (world's first smog vacuum cleaner turning smog into jewelry), Smart Highway (roads that glow at night), and the world’s first Firefly Garden with a breeding program in Bali.

Roosegaarde’s mantra is the Dutch word 'schoonheid,’ which has two meanings in his language: ‘beauty’ as in creativity, and ‘clean’ as in clean air and clean energy. For Roosegaarde, these should be fundamental to daily life. That is why clean air, clean water, clean energy, and clean spaces are the values that he and his team members design for, with light being their language.

In his Phaidon monograph, Roosegaarde stated: "We first have to imagine a better future, and only then can we create it. People won't change because of numbers. But if we can trigger curiosity for a better world, that’s how to activate people. I don't believe in utopia, but in protopia – improving the world around us step by step."