Daan Roosegaarde

Dutch artist, Daan Roosegaarde, is one of the most innovative artists to emerge in the past decade. His sculptures and installations, made in collaboration with a team of engineers and designers, aim to create better conditions in cities and to make difficult areas habitable again, by rethinking processes and upgrading urban structures. At the core of Roosegaarde’s practice is schoonheid, a Dutch word that stands both for ‘clean-ness’ and ‘beauty.’ It is this that has informed some of his most popular public projects, including Waterlicht (a virtual flood that shows the force of water); Smog Free Project (a large outdoor air purifier that turns smog into jewelry), and Smart Highway (an interactive road that charges throughout the day and glows at night).

New York Times: Motivated by a general fascination with the world and “irritation” at the status quo on air pollution, the 38-year-old Roosegaarde has an obsessive passion for inventing things to improve the natural environment.

Guardian: Whether in his native Netherlands or China, where he maintains a second studio, Roosegaarde’s work has always responded to urban environments.

Fortune: Daan Roosegaarde is the Dutch boy wonder of innovation, who has won international praise with a range of spectacular technological projects.

Dezeen: The Dutch artist is lighting up the world with his nature-driven social design.