Explore this extraordinary project that broadens the material perception of water

An experienced designer and artist, Sander Hagelaar presents ‘Fluid Current’ – in which water droplets complete the electric circuit and trigger lights to turn on.

Fascinated by materials and movements the natural world encompasses – he harnesses these components and seeks out the right environments or settings to facilitate these innate occurrences. 

Anything can happen in this process, which is precisely what he aims for – creating a framework in which the material or movement is free and unpredictable. 

“This endeavor also takes on a social dimension as it is supposed to elicit the same reaction in a child as it would in an adult” says Hagelaar.

His particularly conceptual and experimental practice often channels different aspects of physics in “living” objects as well as installations. 

With his interactive populations that can either be kinetic or based on controlled chemical reactions – the shared experiences these projects facilitate also center on the notions of chance and unexpected reactions. 

Spending a lot of time observing and designing water, the designer often incorporates intangible forces like light, gravity and air.

Water and electricity are the two things that don’t go together according to our perception – however, Fluid Current by Hagelaar is a futuristic dynamic installation in which water acts as the conductor of light and the electric circuit is completed by droplets. 

Enjoying playing with common perceptions to rediscover a material – in this conceptual project, the droplets slide along hanging thin strips of polished aluminum and onto a blue bulb that brightly lights up when the water droplet hits its surface.