Jurriaan Andriessen

Inspired by a life-changing encounter with The Limits to Growth, the landmark 1972 study by the Club of Rome that articulated the fatal dangers to humankind of unchecked economic and population growth, the Dutch artist, writer, futurist, and composer Jurriaan Andriessen spent over fifteen years researching, imagining, and illustrating a utopian world he called the Eldorian Empire. Eventually published in 1986 under the title Eldorica, Andriessen’s vision was based on research into statistics, architecture, and technological systems that reject the expansionist and accumulative logic of capitalism, and his never-before-exhibited prints and drawings provide a glimpse into this fantastical world. Inspired by architect and philosopher Buckminister Fuller, Andriessen imagines a richly detailed universe, ranging from the urban scale of the city to intimate domestic interiors, filled with sustainable user-driven machines and appliances.