The Copy Corner
22 November 2023 - 20 March 2024
The Copy Corner is a small exhibition in the Research Centre that uses examples from the collection of the Nieuwe Instituut to show how architectural copying developed from a technical matter into a cultural practice.
Because of unforeseen circumstances, the duration of this presentation has been shortened. The new end date is 20 March 2024. Apologies for any inconvenience.
Analogue copying
The first experiments with photographic copying techniques that we encounter in the archives of the Nieuwe Instituut date from around 1870. From then on, blueprints, white prints, diazotypes, plastic films, xerox copies, faxes and electrostatic prints become increasingly common in the collection. Over the course of the 20th century, they even outnumbered hand-drawn designs.
But what does it actually mean for an analogue architectural practice to produce so many reproductions? In The Copy Corner we dust off the culture of analogue copying and discover why all these copies were made. For example, to reuse existing designs, to experiment with visualisation techniques, to facilitate collaboration or to try out new design variants.
Opening hours
The Copy Corner is open from 22 November to 7 April 2024 during the opening hours of the museum: Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, and during the evening opening on Thursdays, until 9pm.
The exhibition is part of the research project Invented from Copies.
After the proliferation of copies in architectural offices, designers had to start marking documents with words such as ‘draft’, ‘print’, ‘modified’, ‘embargo’ or ‘copy’ to convey why and at what stage the reproduction had been made. Paper punch, 1965-1985 Collection Nieuwe Instituut, Jon Kristinsson Archive, KRIS01 Photo: Johannes Schwartz.
1 of 3
