Design Map · Eindhoven
Letters from Drumbabót
Graduation project by Arnar Ingi Viðarsson at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
‘Letters from Drumbabót’ questions how landscapes become recognised, valued and protected. Starting from an overlooked site in Iceland, where ancient birch stumps exposed by glacial retreat are disappearing due to erosion, it examines the bureaucratic systems and language that determine which places deserve protection. The ancient tree stumps recovered from the site are connected to sensors that record their unique radiation signatures. These signals are converted into typed letters and sent as petitions to Icelandic government officials using the same channels as any citizen would use. Treating the trees as active agents rather than passive resources, the project allows them to communicate through the administrative structures that exclude them. Arranged as a fragment of the original landscape, the installation proposes a present in which the more-than-human world is recognised as a participant in the decisions that shape it.