Design CommissionsDesign Commissions

Timon van der Hijden was invited to realise an intervention and design the graphic layer of the exhibition Surprising Finds from the Collection #2 Nightbirds (2014).

Timon van der Hijden was initially asked to make an intervention that would connect all the different elements in the exhibition: the building, the interior by Makkink & Bey, the various objects from the archive, and the artists' interventions. "My attention was captured by the multitude of patterns, designs and structures in the selected architectural drawings," he says. "I found that quite fascinating, like a rhythm of the night. I translated the colours, shapes, patterns and themes in the exhibited work into a design that was printed on huge sheets of paper." Suspended from the ceiling, the sheets hung throughout the installation, screening off the different areas of the exhibition. A little like flirtatiously draped curtains, a playful reference to nightclub interiors, he explains. "I'd heard that some people had jokingly referred to the archive space, originally designed by OMA, as Rem's peepshow." With a nod to that story, he made perforations in the curtains "so that you could peek through." These peepholes also made it possible for the viewer to catch a glimpse of other works and see them in relation to other objects, thus creating a richly layered exhibition environment, he explains.

Van der Hijden was commissioned to design the graphic layer of the exhibition slightly later. For this, he drew on the patterns he had designed for his intervention. "I don't have any formal training as a graphic designer. I studied at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, where design is taught in the broadest sense. During my studies I co-founded a collective with fellow students with which we organised happenings, first for students, then later for the city and events like Dutch Design Week. I received a Dutch Design Award for the brand communication I designed for those events." Van der Hijden is interested in the long tradition of graphic techniques. He researches the materiality of graphic design and how it can work in a spatial environment, where he likes to be surprised by the effects generated by a combination of high-end and low-end technology.

Archivist Alfred Marks draws on his vast knowledge of the archive at Het Nieuwe Instituut to tell stories that run like invisible lines through the collection. For _Nightbirds_ he focuses on three themes: the theatre, restaurants and dance halls, and the street at night. These are places where people want to see one another and be seen, where they seek company or prefer solitude. Fifty works reflect the emotions of nightlife: the excitement of the audience, the stage fright of the actors, the high-spirits or calm mood in a foyer, and the silence on the street.

Studio Timon van der Hijden is a one-man studio and is involved in creative communication, image making and spatial design. "This design studio is square, it is round, it can be flat or with dimensions. It admires the old and the new, the obvious and the hidden."

website timon van der hijden