About usAbout us

Nieuwe Instituut is the Dutch national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture. A public institution, it manages the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning and Sonneveld House, creates exhibitions and programmes, organises debates and discussions, initiates research, supports and advises designers and realises international projects. We do this through the disciplines of architecture, design and digital culture, broadly defined as the spaces, objects and interactions that determine the shape of the world around us. The institute works locally, nationally and internationally, and is driven by pressing social and environmental issues. Its mission is to experiment, push boundaries and break new ground.

For us, working with multivocality and encouraging the exchange of different voices is the key to a generous and hospitable institute where diverse designers and public groups can feel welcome. Multivocality is reflected in our programmes, in the composition of the team and the designers we work with. It is the foundation of the Zoöp, our organisational model in which non-human life has a leading voice. And it also guides our work on the accessibility of the institute through clear language, adaptations to the physical space of the building and the renewal of the digital space of the website.

We live in a time of great challenges that require changes in the way we do things. Nieuwe Instituut wants to be not only a place where the challenges are raised and discussed, but also a place where the changes are tried out and implemented in collaboration with designers and the public.

Since the arrival of Aric Chen as General and Artistic Director in 2021, the institute’s strategy has changed in three important ways.

Being more outward-looking is crucial to our public role in the service of society. It means strong external engagement with more (networks of) stakeholders, for whom we also make space in our building. In addition to our own public programmes, we increasingly host events developed by others as a platform or open house. As a result of being more outward-looking, we see that the Nieuwe Instituut is more visible locally, nationally and internationally and is more closely connected to all kinds of networks. This also leads to new commissions, connections and cross-fertilisation for and between designers from different networks and disciplines, enabling them to strengthen their own position.

Diversity and inclusion are not boxes to be ticked, but principles for daily operations. This choice contributes to an increasingly diverse offer for different groups of visitors, participants and users, in collaboration with a wide range of designers and partners. And it defines the institute as a place where different voices, stories and needs are heard and, preferably, brought into the conversation. By not only working on multivocality, but also connecting the voices, we see a richer programme emerging. Multiple generations, cultures, ways of working and disciplines are represented. Intervocality is not a gimmick, but a mindset that requires active participation and a willingness to immerse oneself in the other and to move beyond the boundaries of one’s own field of vision, knowledge or discipline. This is what multiple activities also call for.

Finally, the Nieuwe Instituut has become even more of a testing ground in recent years. It wants to offer a place – protected from the market – where designers can test alternatives, experiment and learn in interaction with an audience. It is on this principle that we are developing the co-creation programme. This requires a (long-term) commitment from staff and participating designers, and a willingness to fail and learn. “Testing as public research” has also become the method for generating and sharing knowledge within the Research Department.

Since Earth Day in the spring of 2022, the Nieuwe Instituut has been a Zoöp. In such a “cooperative with all life”, humans and other-than-humans work together. A Zoöp ensures that non-human voices and interests are also part of the decision-making and working methods. As a Zoöp, the Nieuwe Instituut tries, through small and large interventions, to contribute to a world worth living in, in which humans maintain a balanced and sustainable relationship with animals, plants and other forms of life – by trial and error and as transparently as possible.