Presentations abroad – 6 projects selected

background

The Open Call Presentations Abroad gives Dutch designers and architects the opportunity to present their work in international presentation institutions, exhibition venues and museums. The call is aimed at presentations with a distinctive, provocative or ambitious approach that bring a new perspective to the field of design. The purpose of the call is to present the quality and significance of contemporary Dutch architecture, design and digital culture to an international audience, and thereby to strengthen the position of the Dutch design sector abroad.

figures

Sixteen entries were assessed to eventually select six, so that the grant award percentage came to 37.5%. A budget of € 100,000 was available for this call, and the contribution per project ranged between € 10,000 and € 25,000. The contribution is intended for the presentation fee, as well as for travel, accommodation, transport, preparation and/or presentation costs.

assessment

All entries were assessed by an external advisory committee, with reference to the following four criteria:
- The artistic-substantive quality of the project;
- The designer’s plan and motivation;
- The foreign presentation space’s motivation;
- The relevance of the presentation and the presentation space to the Dutch creative industry.

Another relevant aspect is the extent to which the obtained knowledge is shared within the area of expertise in the Netherlands.

selection

The following six projects have been selected:

Between a sign and a non-sign – Azienda Speciale Palaexpo | Rome, Italy
Between a sign and a non-sign is a presentation by graphic design studio Experimental Jetset in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome (MACRO). The project theme is the relationship between Italian radical design and the Sinistra Italia (Italian Left) political party. Experimental Jetset examines two symbols that have played a pivotal role in the history of radical Italian thought: a neon ‘non-logo’ from Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blow-Up (1966) and Enzo Mari’s deconstructed hammer-and-sickle (1977). The installation will consist of 44 parts distributed across the exhibition space, creating ‘a forest of symbols’. This project centres on Experimental Jetset’s perspective, as Dutch designers taking an outside view of this Italian slice of history.

Paraesthesia – Studio Antonis Pittas | Tokyo, Japan
Antonis Pittas has been invited to create a solo exhibition combined with a public programme at the MUJIN-TO and ASAKUSA galleries in Tokyo, Japan. Taking the shape of a site-specific installation and experimental décor design, the exhibition examines the contemporary identity, history and social dynamics of Tokyo by means of archival research and local observation research. Several interconnected works are brought together, and various materials and techniques are used. According to Pittas, the project is a metaphor for the current political reality: a collective sense of disorientation and numbness towards violent and destructive events. The exhibition reception is scheduled for October 2023 during Art Week Tokyo.

Resonance – Suzan Drummen | Chengdu, China
Suzan Drummen has been invited to present an installation at the Chengdu Biennale in China. The installation hovers between visual art and design and will be mounted on the floor of an 80m2 space in the hall of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chengdu. The installation will be complemented by performances involving musicians and dancers. The project is mentored by Selena Yang, founder of the international development platform Oooit Art.

CAN TT AST EMY TH OUG HTS – Josse Pyl | Seoul, South-Korea (see photo above)
CAN TT AST EMY TH OUG HTS is a project involving the presentations of work by Josse Pyl in the past ten years. The context of the project is Typojanchi, an international event in the field of graphic design and typography in South Korea. The works by Josse Pyl will be brought together in a new presentation format. The goal is to explore language as something malleable, which shapes how we think and determines daily life, from the personal to complex socio-political and ethical structures. As part of the project, a scenography will be designed that adapts to the architecture of the exhibition space. The result is an overview exhibition that examines traditional and unconventional forms of communication, and thereby our understanding of the world. By presenting the works in a new way and by challenging conventional views on communication, Pyl seeks to expand our consciousness and to investigate how linguistic mechanisms influence perception and expression.

Muskui Alpa – territory of dreams – del Hierro UA | Berlin, Germany
Muskui Alpa – territory of dreams is a cartographic installation by architect Santiago del Hierro. The work is presented in the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and forms part of the exhibition The Great Repair. The installation revolves around the rediscovery of indigenous knowledge and practices that can help decolonise the western narrative about progress and the practical ramifications of expansion, appropriation and exploitation. The installation is woven by the Inga, an indigenous people from Colombia, using various materials from the Andes-Amazone. As part of the exhibition, representatives of the Inga community will also give a weaving workshop for local Berlin weavers. After the presentation in Berlin, the cartographic installation will return to Colombia where the work will possibly be displayed at a number of locations in Inga territory.

Waters of Hamburg, exhibition installation for MK&G, Hamburg, 2024 – Ooze architects | Hamburg, Germany
Waters of Hamburg is an immersive installation for the exhibition Wasser/Water, due to open in March 2024 in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. The installation will be created through design research and represents a speculative future for the museum’s water infrastructure. Based on historical anecdotes and stories that have played an important role in ground-breaking changes to the water system, the installation will show that radical solutions for the current crises are possible. The goal is to raise awareness and stimulate the debate on the vital role of water systems for a more sustainable and just future.

what’s next

A new round of the Open Call Presentations Abroad will be launched on 20 September 2023. You have until 8 December 2023 at the latest to submit a proposal.