Sara Ballout

role

Designer

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Location

The Netherlands

Sara Ballout is a Lebanese designer and researcher based in the Netherlands. In her work she approaches energy as a social, spatial and political issue, with particular attention to situations in which government structures fall short. She questions how informal networks and collective practices emerge in response to instability.

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Networks of Necessity

Exhibition

2026 Kazerne Design Award Nominees

Images

Ruud Balk

Video

thanks

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How do communities cope with uncertain energy supplies? An electricity pole, inspired by the Lebanese streetscape, carries an alternative network of connections. As a visitor you operate the switches yourself, setting light, sound and projections in motion: a direct experience of how energy is distributed and redistributed. An interactive, hand-embroidered map, traces informal energy networks across a neighborhood, mapping relationships between homes and energy sources, while a low-tech online archive reveals how people with limited resources still keep systems running. Energy is not a given, but a chain of human choices.

Web Development: Maisa Imamovi
Sound Design: Nabila Ernada & Luthantyo
Electronics Support: Bart Hassinkk

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The role of informal infrastructures and collective practices in times of uncertainty

Energy as a social network