International Visitors Programme
At the request of the Dutch Embassy in Berlin, a delegation of German-based curators visited the Netherlands to further their research into developments in the field of new and future-resilient materials. The delegation, consisting of Silvia Gaetti and Sabine Epple (both from the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts, Leipzig) and Jasmin Minges (from Futurium, Berlin) took part in a visitors programme from 19 to 23 June. This was carefully curated by the Nieuwe Instituut in close cooperation with the diplomatic mission.
As part of the programme, the curators met with innovative Dutch designers and researchers, such as Chris Kabel (Studio Chris Kabel), Wendy Plomp (Dutch Invertuals) and Simone de Waart (Material Sense Lab). They also took part in studio visits to Blue City Lab, Superuse Studios, Studio Klarenbeek & Dros, ByBorre, Buro Belen, Envisions and Atelier NL in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the research methods and design processes that underpin the way these pioneering spaces organise themselves and realise their projects.
As an exciting result of the Visitors Programme, Studio Klareenbeek & Dros and Envisions have been selected to participate in the exhibition Futures: Materials and Designs of Tomorrow at the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig, opening in November 2024.
Silvia Gaetti is a curator at the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig. From 2013 to 2016 she was a curatorial trainee at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin and the Humboldt Lab Dahlem. Previously, she worked in the field of education and mediation of contemporary art at various galleries and at the Venice and Berlin Biennales. She studied sinology and art history in a global context in Venice and Leiden, with stays in Berlin and Beijing. The thematic focus of her curatorial work is on transculturality and transdisciplinarity in art and design, with a special emphasis on gender and environmental issues. She is currently working on the special exhibition: Futures: Materials and Design of Tomorrow, which will open in November 2024.
Sabine Epple studied art history, classical architecture, German and comparative folklore at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. After graduating in 1990, she worked as a journalist in Munich and Leipzig. Since 1991 she has been curator of the modern collections at the Grassi Museum of Applied Arts in Leipzig. She is responsible for collecting, cataloguing and exhibiting applied art from Art Nouveau to the present. She has organised exhibitions and published on a wide range of topics, including Verner Panton, Thonet furniture design, experimental shoe design, bicycles, Danish design and contemporary art jewellery. Since 2000, she has been project manager of the annual Grassimessen and has worked as a teacher on various occasions.
Jasmin Minges is a member of the exhibition team at the Futurium, Berlin. She has been working on exhibition conception and realisation since 2017. Previously, she worked as an interpretive planner at an international design agency (Triad Berlin), where she also developed exhibitions, for example for the German Football Museum. In 2010 she completed her Master’s in Münster. At the Futurium, her work focuses on humorous, intuitive, comprehensible and surprising curations, concepts, narratives and realisations on a wide range of scientific and futuristic topics. The resulting exhibitions combine different formats: art, design, graphics, objects, (media) interactions and texts. She is currently working on Futures of Raw Materials, which will be shown at Futurium in spring 2024, and Wishes of the Future.