BK TALK and Exhibition Opening | Dialogues on DEPLETION 

March 31^st 2026 | 17:00 – 19:30

Exhibition Opening | DEPLETION, a design inquiry
March 31^st – April 10^th 2026

How can we design with, within, and beyond depletion? 

Join us for the upcoming BK TALK Dialogues on DEPLETION and Exhibition opening, exploring one of the most urgent yet overlooked conditions shaping our environments today: Depletion.

The BK Talk: Dialogues on Depletion brings together contributors to the Journal of Delta Urbanism #6: Depletion and its accompanying Exhibition with a group of invited external critics to explore the political, ecological, and design implications of soil depletion.
The event adopts a reversed discussion format in which guest interlocutors open the conversation by questioning and challenging the contributors’ positions, prompting reflections on the role and agency of design in contexts of resource exhaustion and environmental transformation. Instead of viewing depletion as a single crisis, the Exhibition and Talk explore it as a prolonged unraveling of landscapes, infrastructures, resources, and communities. Located in Deltas and other vulnerable territories, we explore how extractivism, (over)design, and climate volatility degrade the systems that support us framing (soil) Depletion as a critical lens for adaptive and regenerative design.

Structured in three thematic sections—with, within, and beyond—the conversation examines different ways to engage with depletion. Contributors include Lara Almarcegui, Audrey Samson and Françîcco Gayardo  (FRAUD), Armin Linke, Gintare Norkunaite (PosadMaxwan), and Antoine Vialle (TU Berlin) who are invited to respond to provocative questions from guest critics Mike Buxton (TU Delft), Ilmar Hurkxkens (Boskalis & TU Delft), and Erik Swyngedouw (University of Manchester), emerged from the essays and materials presented in the dedicated Journal issue and Exhibition. Moderated by Michele Francesco Bonato (POLIS student association), the dialogue foregrounds interdisciplinary perspectives and critically tests how research and design practices can respond to the material, spatial, and political conditions of depletion. The session includes reflections and questions from the audience, fostering a dialogue across the wider TUDelft community.

The Exhibition and Dialogue bring together a diverse range of creative and research-based contributions -including models, installations, drawings, visual narratives, and audiovisual work. With over 40 contributions from more than 20 countries and transnational contexts, it fosters an interdisciplinary and globally engaged dialogue.