The Critical VisitorThe Critical Visitor

Since 2016, diversity has had a prominent place in Het Nieuwe Instituut’s programme and acquisitions policy. For the Archive Explorations evenings, guests from a range of backgrounds are invited to provide new perspectives on the architecture collection on the basis of varying themes. These include stories that have remained untold or hidden because they did not fit within a strict disciplinary and normative discourse, such as the importance of the squatters’ movement for the development of Dutch cities, feminisms in architecture and the history of queer liberation.

The issue of cultural diversity in relation to the collection leads to new ways of looking at representation and acquisition. As a historical theme, ‘diversity’ includes developments in alternative forms of community that have resulted in self-build projects and other bottom-up practices since the 1960s. In this context, we have developed the Architecture of Appropriation research project and acquired archives relating to the squatters’ movement. Other areas of focus include ‘gender’ and ‘post-colonialism’.

Drawing on the architecture collection under the Nieuwe Instituut’s management, Collecting Otherwise explores the possibilities for an alternative architectural, heritage and archival practice, one that reflects a society that is constantly changing. Collecting Otherwise advises on the development of the collection policy on the basis of a series of archives that are either already part of the collection or that are yet to be acquired. This project is in line with Het Nieuwe Instituut’s ambition to not only make visible the potential of its rich collection, but also to identify the gaps it contains, in order to recognise actors and practices that were excluded on the basis of, for example, historical collection policy.

The Critical Visitor also ties in with the Jaap Bakema Study Centre’s long-term research project on museology. Archives, research, exhibitions and the public are connected in the production of new knowledge and values. This research area informed earlier exhibitions such as 1: 1 Period Rooms at Het Nieuwe Instituut. Central questions concern the type of audience and the specific knowledge and values that are produced and represented through the medium of the exhibition.