Arne Hendriks

The Incredible Shrinking Man

The project

Human growth has become a synonym for our Western welfare society, but is it sustainable in the long term? With The Incredible Shrinking Man, Arne Hendriks investigates what the impact on the world would be if people would only be 50 cm tall. Then more people would fit on the same surface, and could manage with less food.

Committee

The Incredible Shrinking Man shows us what thinking differently could really mean. Initially, the project seems to be a metaphor. It is performed with so much zest that you can only take the idea seriously. In addition, it shows a counter-response to existing solutions offered by the entire sustainability industry. This project really boosts out-of-the-box thinking to a whole new level.

Jury

Through boundless out-of-the-box thinking, he questions the tendency to make everything bigger and introduces man as the modifiable factor rather than his surroundings. Hendriks thus makes a bold statement in which the world is not improved by growth but by shrinkage. The Incredible Shrinking Man is a positive research experiment that appeals directly to the imagination.

— People keep getting taller and most people see that as a natural phenomenon, tells Hendriks - Bas van Lier, Dutch Design Jaarboek, 2013

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