Het Instituut voor het Zandkorrel Hoogtebeleid (IZH)
Micha van der Molen (2002, Drenthe) is an autonomous designer who graduated from Academie Minerva in 2025. Micha creates large-scale installations where he questions how people relate to their environment and how that environment—often shaped by human systems and constructions—in turn influences us. His fascination lies with the absurd: situations or designs that have become so self-evident that we no longer realize how strange or uncomfortable they actually are.
From personal observations, such as an experience with a counter or a grain of sand in an earthquake-prone area, Micha focuses on recognizable elements that symbolize larger societal issues. He takes these out of their context and enlarges or reduces them. In this way, he creates a reconstruction of reality where confusion, alienation, and wonder come together.
As his graduation project, Micha van der Molen founded the Instituut voor het Zandkorrel Hoogtebeleid (IZH). In this project, he addresses the major problem of land subsidence by magnifying the small, the grain of sand. By magnifying the small, he tries to make the absurdity visible and encourage the viewer to think about our role in these societal themes.
