Design CommissionsDesign Commissions

Ira Koers and Roelof Mulder conceived the spatial design of the Finders Keepers exhibition in 2017 and the presentation of the 2018 New Material Award.

The viewer can interpret Ira Koers and Roelof Mulder's designs for Het Nieuwe Instituut as landscapes. "The visitor wanders around and makes discoveries," says Ira Koers. "It's like walking through a forest, constantly discovering new paths, encountering different types of trees and plants, and perhaps finding mushrooms or spotting birds. The spaces we create should function as a sculpture for object and human. They're like a new cross-section that can slide into an existing building or a Barbapapa that can assume any form.";

Many of the nominees for the New Material Award work with existing materials or residual products. Since the processes of research, experimentation and development are vital for these designers, it is essential to show side-by-side the original material (origin), its processing (new material) and the new material's use (application). "We developed a landscape with raw yet pure materials and allocated spaces for these three stages," says Koers. "The exhibition was in different locations. So we developed a collection of wooden modules, with which we could fashion different landscapes. We arranged the materials and objects in an undulating setting of white marble pebbles, chosen for their neutral and pale appearance."

Several nominees presented a dinner service. "Placing the cups, plates and bowls among a mass of pebbles suggested an outdoor kiln for ceramics," explains Koers. "The displayed objects look like they've just been fired and are still cooling on the coals. The design also allowed for the reuse of the crates and pebbles once the exhibition was over.

From 2009 to 2020, the New Material Award went annually and then biennially to artists and designers that contribute to material innovation, with a focus on ecological and social sustainability. The prize offered a platform to a generation of designers that asks fundamental questions about industrial production processes, natural growth, waste flows and residual materials.

Bureau Ira Koers also integrated notions landscape in its exhibition design for Finders Keepers. They retained the pavilions from the previous exhibition, Designing the Surface, in Het Nieuwe Instituut's main exhibition space. "We wanted to use the previous exhibition to channel the new one," says Koers. "We created a continuous landscape between the main exhibition space's columns. Within this, we incorporated the individual pavilions as cut-outs within the massive field of objects." Visitors could walk around this square landscape and step into it at various points. For example, they could ascend a ramp to the centre of the presentation or climb a staircase to a high vantage point overlooking the entire exhibition. The pavilions accommodated satellite presentations. The wooden deck's matte grey colour visually assimilated the building's concrete. "It's always nice to respond to the architecture," notes Koers. A reflective covering on the pavilions' outer walls, endlessly reflected the objects on display. Graphic designer Sandra Kassenaar devised plexiglass hoods to cover sections of the various collections and present interviews with the collectors about their collections. "The hoods provided small islands of concentration in a vast landscape."

For the Finders Keepers exhibition, the design magazine _MacGuffin _brought together more than 5000 objects from more than 40 collections in a "Grande Parade" of everyday utensils, from razors to jeans, and from ropes to stairs. The exhibition focused on the diverse motives and strategies of collectors, the aesthetic pleasure of collecting and the hidden life of things.

Roelof Mulder studied visual arts at ArtEZ in Arnhem and graphic design at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, going on to work as a designer. Ira Koers studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and works as a designer and architect. In 2009, Roelof and Ira started working together on public projects commissioned by museums, universities, healthcare organisations, municipalities and various cultural agencies. Their work takes place in interiors and exteriors, is for the future or the temporary, and concerns nature, culture and beauty.

Website Bureau Ira Koers