Lest We ForgetLest We Forget

How do we preserve and share Dutch design heritage? What form should a collection of Dutch design take? And what does this mean for developments in design and digital culture today? This autumn, Het Nieuwe Instituut spotlights the memory of design disciplines. Three different presentations and an extensive events programme each examine the remains of our material and spatial design culture from their own perspective.

Habitat: Expanding Architecture is an installation that reconstructs a crucial moment in twentieth-century architecture and urban development and examines its contemporary relevance. This autumn, Het Nieuwe Instituut presents a temporary heritage collection of design and digital culture in the Speculative Design Archive to ensure that the Dutch design archive does not disappear into obscurity. Four nominees for the Prix de Rome Architecture focus on designs for forgotten landscapes; one in the neighbourhood of the villages Hongerige Wolf and Ganzedijk in East Groningen, the other in Amsterdam's Sixhaven marina, a stone's throw from Central Station. Reconstructions, speculation and experiment are harnessed as remedies against imminent obscurity to create an infectious combination of presentations and public events.

Speculative Design Archive / Habitat: Expanding Architecture / Prix de Rome Architecture 2018
19 October 2018 - 10 March 2019
The three exhibitions open on Thursday 18 October. The winner of the 2018 Prix de Rome Architecture is announced earlier in the day.

In an imagined temporary archive, Het Nieuwe Instituut proposes a potential national archive of design and digital culture. A repository of Dutch material culture to ensure that valuable expertise relating to the whole design process is not lost. Who will preserve what for the future? Why and how? Together with the public, the archive rediscovers the value of leading pieces and forgotten treasures. Focusing on diverse examples of sketches, material studies, prototypes and documentation the Speculative Design Archive explores the potential form and significance that a collection like this may have in the near future. The exhibition is realised in collaboration with a versatile network of formal and informal archives, archivists and custodians, as well as various heritage institutions.
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In 1956, the tenth CIAM conference (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) was held in Dubrovnik. It was a historic gathering in which 'habitat' was the central theme. Architecture was identified as belonging to larger, cohesive systems and ecological networks. Highlighting historical archive material relating to architects such as Aldo van Eyck, Alison and Peter Smithson, James Sterling, Piero Bottoni and Jaap Bakema, the exhibition brings the presentations in Dubrovnik to life. Alongside this material, the show also examines more recent projects by Pjotr Gonggrijp, Frits Palmboom and Joost Váhl - all from Het Nieuwe Instituut's collection - giving the term 'habitat' a contemporary significance. The installation also provides a platform for an extensive programme of seminars and debates with international architects, historians, planners and students.
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The Prix de Rome jury selected four nominees for the Prix de Rome Architecture 2018 from the various participants who completed the fictional commission in the agrarian landscape of East Groningen. Alessandra Covini (Studio Ossidana), Bram van Kaathoven, Katarzyna Nowak and the Rademaker de Vries duo were given an entirely new assignment: Six Harbour in central Amsterdam. While this urban oasis has managed until recently to avoid the attention of planners and investors, that situation is about to change. Their proposals for the locations are presented in the exhibition. The Prix de Rome is organised by the Mondrian Fund. It is the oldest and most generous Dutch prize for architects below the age of 35 and artists below the age of 40. The winner receives a cash prize of 40.000 euros and a three-month working residency at the American Academy in Rome.
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For more information or images, a press preview, appointment and/or an interview with one of the designers or curators, please contact Niek van der Meer, by email n.vandermeer@hetnieuweinstituut.nl or by telephone +31 (0)6 83 87 82 26.