Disclosing Futures Rethinking Heritage
Heritage innovates. It does this partly through technological progress, but mainly by questioning current practice. A collection is not a neutral representation of the past, but acquires meaning through interactions with, and interpretations of, new generations of users. This means that heritage must, by definition, be future-oriented. At the conference Disclosing Futures – Rethinking Heritage, on 2 and 3 November in Het Nieuwe Instituut, we discussed the reorientation of the role of heritage, and innovation as a condition for sustainable collection management.
Walk & Talks will take place during lunch and coffee breaks - informal moments when you can take a peek behind the screens, or a guided tour.
Alison’s Room: An Extended Reality Archive
Architectural designer and researcher Paula Strunden created an immersive XR installation based on the original archival room of British architect and author Alison Smithson (1928-1993). Together with her husband Peter (1923-2003) she was one of the protagonists of New Brutalism in architecture, and a member of Team 10, which papers are kept at the national collection at Het Nieuwe Instituut. The installation explores the combination of an immersive experience of spatial narratives with archival documents and images. The project is part of the EU funded network Communities of Tacit Knowledge in Architecture (TACK). It is one of the prototypes in The Virtual CIAM Museum as developed by the Jaap Bakema Study Centre, the research collaboration between TU Delft and Het Nieuwe Instituut.
2 Nov, 12:30-13:15 & 15:30-16:30, Foyer
Open Archive with the Detour Guides
In this third edition of Open Archive, Daria Kiseleva, the duo Alice Wong & Simo Tse along with Remco Torenbosch present a new media work based on the open, digital collections held by Sound & Vision, Het Nieuwe Instituut and the International Institute of Social History. New stories have arisen from this heritage, connecting the past to current affairs. The artists have chosen social themes such as the visibility and voices of minorities, immigration and political imagination. Their creative, critical reflections on the collections keep heritage alive and provide surprising insights, both for the general public and the archive institute. Our 'detour guides', who are all makers with their own field of expertise. These 'unravelers' and perception experts show you around based on their own vision as musicians, dancers, architects, actors or artists.
2 Nov, 12:30-13:15 & 15:30-16:30 and 3 Nov, 12:15-13:00 & 15:15-16:00, Gallery 0
DigiLab
The digitisation of the National Collection started ten years ago with a single AGFA A4 scanner in the office of what was then the Netherlands Architecture Institute. The transformation in 2021 of the 'digistraat' (digital line) to the new 'DigiLab' brought all of the required equipment for recording and finishing together in a single space, optimally set up specially for this purpose. The rapid development of professional camera systems and the flexibility offered by these cameras means that all scanners have now been replaced by cameras. From negative to blueprint and from correspondence to design drawing: a specific digitisation process has been set up for every material. During this Walk & Talk you can take a peek into the DigiLab and see how items from the archives of the National Collection are digitised.
2 Nov, 12:30-13:15 and 3 Nov 15:15-16:00, Oostkop
Van Doesburg
This year saw the completion of the large-scale restoration of the Van Doesburg collection. In the Research Centre, a number of his works are laid out that have undergone a complex restoration process. Employees of Het Nieuwe Instituut will answer all your questions concerning the history of the archive, the restoration and the special techniques used or developed for this.
2 nov, 15:30-16:15 en 3 nov, 12:15-13:00, Collectiedepot
Photography and Design Process
The creation of the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning roughly coincided with the birth of photography. Over the years, architecture has naturally been a beloved subject for photographers. At the same time, many architects and designers have collected photographic works. In addition, architects have often commissioned photographers to record their work, but amateur photographs are also regularly found in the collection. In this Walk & Talk, we will examine in greater depth the role photography can play in the design process, taking various photographic objects from the National Collection as examples.
3 Nov, 15:15-16:00, Collection depot
Design Drawings
Every six months, 75 thousand sheets are assessed in relation to their need for conservation and restoration. On the basis of conservation guidelines drawn up by Het Nieuwe Instituut, a team of registrators sort archive files in a conveyor belt-like process, according to their need for passive conservation, complete repacking, active restoration and repair of wear and tear from use. As we work on this with three restoration workshops, painstaking registration is of the greatest importance. Talk to registrators and project managers about how this work is organised and carried out.
2 Nov, 15:30-16:15 and 3 Nov, 12:15-13:00, Collection depot
Women and Photography
For a long time, the role of women in many disciplines has been underexposed. In this Walk & Talk, we will examine the contributions made by women to the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, and by female photographers and photography in the women's archives in particular. During the first half of the last century, recurring collaborations and networking were vitally important to them. A lack of good photography training meant that experience, reputation and a good track record had to be built up mainly through commissioned photographic work. How did these collaborative relationships work, and what did they mean to the architect and the photographer? Who were these women? The (personal) photos in the archives of female architects and designers provide an interesting glimpse into their practice and personal lives.
2 Nov, 12:30-13:15, Collection depot
Sourcebook
Sourcebook explores and showcases the re-search impulses by artists Mandy El-Sayegh and Helena Hunter (curated by Renan Laru-an) through their conceptual, material and structural coincidences. This pop-up exhibition is on display at Het Nieuwe Instituut's Research Centre and is situated within archival material and research from Collection Het Nieuwe Instituut and Collecting Otherwise. The expo aligns with Het Nieuwe Instituut's efforts to explore, reclaim and re-narrate archival research methods and tools. Centred around the eponymous short film Sourcebook shown on the Research Centre's digital tables, the expo expands on methods of research through 'conceptual, material, and structural coincidences'. Sourcebook questions both Western understandings of researching and collecting, and pushes those boundaries into territories of wandering and affect. Artistic explorations are in conversation with the National Collection of Architecture and Urban Planning, through selected material that speaks to those serendipitous ways in which archival research encounters institutions and other (un)documented voices.
2 Nov 12:35 - 13:20 & 15:00-16:30 and 3 Nov 12:35- 13:20 & 15:15 - 16:00, Research Centre