Next to her own practice, Pleun is co-creator and former curator of the Future Materials Bank at the Jan van Eyck Academie and digital curator with Jaap Knevel of the Living Library at Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.

Living Library

The Living Library is a transdisciplinary exploration of materials, making, and circular design, unfolding at the Bio Design Lab since April 2024. Over two years, it functions as a temporary, evolving material archive that rethinks artistic and design practice through regionally sourced, biodegradable materials.

The project fosters experimental, practice-based learning focused on local raw materials, making techniques, and sustainable production. Through seminars, workshops, and field trips, materials are gathered, developed, activated, and eventually returned to the soil. The process and outcomes are documented in a digital archive and will culminate in an open-access publication.

Julia Ihls (Head of project, Coordinator), Fara Peluso (Material curator), Pleun van Dijk and Jaap Knevel (Digital curators), Lilith Stumpf (Coordination assistant), Luzia Holzbach, Benjamin Kaltenbach (Material curation assistants), Cornelia Herzog, Pauline Kuch, Sebastian Schilbach (Digital curation assistants)