Designing the Netherlands: A look back at a thought-provoking exhibition
The exhibition Designing the Netherlands: 100 Years of Past and Present Futures was not only a celebration of 100 years of the Dutch National Collection, but also an ambitious initiative to inspire the public, designers and policy-makers to develop a new vision for the design of our country. The interest in the exhibition, organised by the Nieuwe Instituut and the Board of Government Advisors (CRa), was encouraging, not only in terms of visitor numbers, but also in terms of the many group visits, guided tours and discussions, both public and behind the scenes.
11 June 2024
Until 12 June, the Nieuwe Instituut hosted the exhibition Designing the Netherlands, a rich collection of bold ideas about the future design of the Netherlands. On display were both new design proposals and plans from the architecture collection by designers who responded to the great social challenges of their time. Have these design ideas provided inspiration for the design of the Netherlands in our own time?
Centenary of the National Collection
Designing the Netherlands had two motivations: the celebration of the centenary of the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, and the current need to rethink the spatial design of the Netherlands at a time of climate change, housing shortage and energy transition. In order to focus on both the past and the future, the exhibition has been created in collaboration with the Board of Government Advisors (CRa), an independent advisor to the government on current social issues and environmental quality.
Press and visitors
Since its opening in November 2023, Designing the Netherlands has been visited more than 30,000 times and has been well discussed in the press, with great in-depth articles in de Volkskrant, Quest, Trouw, de Architect and others. One of the curators was a guest on NPO Radio 1. The material from the archives of the foundation Nederland Nu Als Ontwerp (NNAO), which sought to develop a broadly supported vision of the Netherlands in the late 1980s through national discussions and a major public exhibition, received particular media attention. Interest focused not only on the results – four spatial scenarios for the year 2050 – but also on the working method and the ambition shown: “Let the importance of a distant time horizon be a lesson that can be learned from the past.” (Archined)
Tours
What has happened behind the scenes is also significant. Over the past few months, we have welcomed numerous Dutch government groups, (educational) institutions and designers for guided tours and group visits, including the Ministries of Infrastructure and Water Management, Foreign Affairs, and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the municipalities of Delft and Rotterdam, the Provinces of Zeeland, Gelderland and Zuid-Holland, the Universities of Wageningen and Utrecht, the Council for Culture, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), the Deltametropolis Association, the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), the Netherlands Scientific Climate Council, KCAP architecture office, MUST urban planning office and architect Herman Hertzberger. The exhibition also formed the background and context for symposia of the Association of Dutch Interior Architects and for an interview with the Chief Government Architect for the television programme 2Vandaag.
Events
In addition, public meetings were organised in collaboration with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), the Board of Government Advisors (CRa), Platform Ontwerp NL and the Deltametropolis Association. Back to the Future focused on the usefulness of spatial scenarios and other future studies at a time of major spatial transitions. And in Futures of Spatial Design, different generations talked about spatial planning as a design challenge, and the role that designers can play in it.
Digitally accessible
A century of the National Collection is a wonderful milestone in the history of collecting Dutch architecture. What is really important, however, is that this collection continues to be meaningful and relevant, stimulating discussion and collaboration, inspiring new generations and making them think.
Designing the Netherlands will eventually be available in an alternative format, with all the material from the exhibition digitally accessible.