Research
Languages and Vocabularies
Nieuwe Instituut's Research department explores collective forms of knowledge creation through its projects, activities, fellowships and other initiatives.
How can novel and alternative vocabularies transform the narratives we construct, the relationships we form, and the cultural schemas underpinning our physical realities? And how can these vocabularies and languages be actively incorporated as materials within the practical, theoretical, and pedagogical dimensions of design practices? Research projects at Nieuwe Instituut delve into these questions through various approaches. We have explored the creation of shared vocabularies around 'waste' across cultural and linguistic boundaries at a workshop during the Sharjah Architecture Triennial 2023, and have been developing a lexicon of terms to investigate what a regenerative store can be as part of the New Store project. In the Design Drafts initiative, we seek to discover new languages to write design together with different magazines and writers. The ongoing project Through Sounds delves into sonic forms of exchange, thinking through sonic infrastructures, their fragility, dependency on DIY and communal efforts. Moreover, we are examining the role of these ephemeral languages in shaping everyday environments by intersecting computation, design, architecture, poetry, and artistic practice in events such as the Research Nights series.