De WAR

De WAR

FabLab Amersfoort logo and De WAR building complex, former Prins Willem III barracks, Heiligenbergerweg, Amersfoort, the Netherlands, 2024
Formation	2002, FabLab Amersfoort since 2010[1]
Founder	Diana Wildschut, Harmen Zijp
Purpose	Free fab lab, incubator, showroom and platform for citizen science and other research, art, technology and sustainability
Headquarters	Heiligenbergerweg 34, 3816 AK Amersfoort, the Netherlands
Location	Amersfoort, the Netherlands
Region served	The Netherlands
Products	selfmade prototypes, equipment, works of art, workshops
Services	annual conference Koppelting
Fields	citizen science, arts, science and technology outreach, maker and hacker culture
Official language	Dutch, English
Website	www.dewar.nl

De WAR (Dutch for mess, chaos, confusion) is a social centre for the arts and citizen science, including a fab lab at Amersfoort, the Netherlands.[1][2][3] A fab lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small-scale workshop offering (personal) digital fabrication. De WAR is a nonprofit volunteer organisation outside of Dutch academia and educational system, and is part of the Dutch maker and hacker culture scene. It organizes public events, exhibits and workshops connecting technology, sustainability, science and arts. FabLab Amersfoort opened within De WAR in 2010, as one of the first grassroots fab labs.[1][2][4]

History

De WAR dates back to 2002, when a group of performing artists, "De Spullenmannen" created a laboratory in an old factory complex in Amersfoort.[5] Leading artists of the "De Spullenmannen" (English: The Spullenmen; the Dutch "spullen" meaning "things" or "stuff") were Diana Wildschut and Harmen Zijp. They make visual theatre and theatrical installations, and work often with garbage from the consumer society. The Spullenmen act on the interface of art and science.[6] The Spullen laboratory ("Spullenlab") was established in the abandoned factory of Warner-Jenkinson (part of Sensient Technologies), where dyes were made.

Around 2007 the first steps in creating "De WAR" were taken. The idea was to create an open workspace for artists, (citizen) scientists, starting entrepreneurs etc. An important factor in the foundation of De WAR was the start of the so-called "festival Franje", ("Franje" meaning "fringe"), that continued as an autonomous fringe festival in Amersfoort, Arendal (Norway) and Potsdam (Germany) until 2017.[7]

Gallery

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  De WAR Fab lab, 2024.
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  De WAR Fab lab equipment, 2024.
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  De WAR Fab lab equipment, 2024.
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  De WAR Fab lab equipment, 2024.
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  Citizen science: Weather balloon launch, De WAR, 2017.
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  Citizen science: Microscope view of a metallic micrometeorite (pointed eggshape) including a dust mite, De WAR, 2024.
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  Showcase for discarded domestic electrical appliances (toasters) at De WAR, 2024.
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  Poster for the Koppelting Citizen science conference, August 2024.
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  Former location of De WAR, former Steam Match Factory, Eem River, Amersfoort, the Netherlands, 2016.

References

1. Smith et al. 2017.
2. Troxler 2014.
3. Wildschut 2017.
4. Zijp 2011.
5. "De WAR". VVV Amersfoort (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-10-27.
6. "The Spullenmen : theatre, installations, visual art and purposeless contraptions". spullenmannen.nl. Archived from the original on 2019-02-18. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
7. "festival Franje (2007)". franje.nu (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-10-27. This gives the line-up of all the festivals from 2007 until 2017 in Amersfoort, Arendal and Potsdam.

External links

• Official website
• "The Spullenmen". spullenmannen.nl. Archived from the original on 2019-02-18. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
• "FabLab Amersfoort, Heiligenbergerweg 34, Amersfoort, Utrecht, 3816AK, Netherlands". fablabs.io. The Fab Foundation. Retrieved 11 October 2024. Fablab Amersfoort is a bottom up grassroots Fablab. Four artists have decided to take matters into their own hands and not wait for funding, but start a Fablab in Amersfoort themselves.
• "Welkom bij FabLab Amersfoort!" [Welcome to FabLab Amersfoort!]. fablabamersfoort.nl (in Dutch). 2024. Retrieved 11 October 2024.

Literature

• Smith A, Fressoli M, Abrol D, Arond E, Ely A (2017). Grassroots innovation movements. Pathways to sustainability. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 113–115. ISBN 978-1-138-90122-3. OCLC 912378783. Full text download.
• Troxler, Peter (2014). "Fab Labs forked: A grassroots insurgency inside the next industrial revolution". Journal of Peer production. 5: 1–3. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
• Wildschut, Diana (2017). "The need for citizen science in the transition to a sustainable peer-to-peer-society". Futures. 91: 46–52. doi:10.1016/j.futures.2016.11.010.
• Zijp, H. (2011). "The grass roots FabLab instructable or How to set up a Fab Lab in 7 days with 4 people and about EUR 5000" (PDF). Fab Lab Amersfoort, the Netherlands. Retrieved 11 October 2024.