Het Niuewe Instituut

Model of the Niuewe Instituut in the collection archives. 

The Het Niuewe Instituut is the Netherlands national museum of architecture, design, and digital culture located in Rotterdam. Originally three different entities, government budget cuts forced these three institutions to combine into one cultural heritage organization and research powerhouse. During our site visit, we attended one lecture led by the research team, a tour of the architecture archives, and a tour of the -1 exhibit showcasing and exploring the notion of digital culture.

Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam

Homemade radio used in the Netherlands during WWII to access illegal Dutch radio stations. On display in the foyer and within the exhibition. 

The Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam, the Resistance Museum, is primarily focused on the history of World War II and German concentration camps. The permanent exhibition on German concentration camps and the Netherlands’ role in WWII is organized chronologically with the atmosphere increasingly growing grimmer as the visitor moves through the space. The museum provides listening devices available in multiple languages for users to scan throughout the exhibit and listen by holding the device to their ears. After our self-guided tour, we attended a Q&A with curator Karlien Metz.

How Do These Institutions Practice Co-Creation?

Bason defines co-creation as, “the explicit involvement over time of people to identify, define and describe a new approach” involving the seven activities of, “framing, knowing, analysing, synthesising, creating, scaling, and learning” (Bason, 2010, p.220).

Niuewe Instiuut

The Niuewe Instituut  practices framing, “thinking in a different way about the problem or by identifying a new opportunity” in their project development and hiring processes. Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, curator and researcher, outlined their project development process as a collective brainstorm that values each voice and ensures each project aligns with one of the five major themes determined for the year. Despite receiving public funding, the projects are developed by the interests of the research team and the needs they determine through research and responding to the questions public innovators must answer, “why is this important, why is it a problem, and whom does it affect?” (Bason, 2010, p.222). In their hiring processes for resident artists and researchers, the -1 curator said each year they redesign the hiring and selection process to be more inclusive and expand their reach to applicants outside their previous circles and biases.

The Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam

The Verzetsmuseum excels in identifying insights, a practicing embedded within Bason’s analysing step, “how should we interpret our findings, what do they mean to u, what do they imply for what we are seeking to achieve as an organization?” (Bason, 2010, p.234).

Curator Karlien Metz informed our class the previous exhibition ended its twenty-year reign in 2022 and was replaced with an exhibition they are hoping to keep for at least seven years. In developing the new exhibition, the museum communicated with visitors to find holes in their storytelling and develop systematic and physical improvements. By adopting this bottom-up approach, the museum created a chronological experience for visitors so schoolchildren and adults alike could easily follow the narrative. They also included seats in each room for people to sit and absorb the heavy information and personal stories weaved throughout the museum. Since these changes, they have received positive feedback and I can personally attest to the physical and emotional process the chronological organization developed.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner?

Thank you, snoopers, for sitting through that. The truth is this is not a fair fight with the Nieuwe Instituut containing three entities with the funding to match and the Verzetsmuseum consisting of fifteen employees completely relying on volunteers to run the museum. Beyond that, I’m growing tired of academics telling me what innovation is. I don’t think it has much to do with these abstract words listing out steps in a glorified WikiHow format. Both institutions are full of dedicated people with a vision and passion to help the greater good in the Netherlands and the human desire for prosperity, particularly in cultural heritage.

Innovation appears to me as a mental framework that relies on the aforementioned human desire for prosperity, connection, and pride. Relying anecdotally on the institutions we have visited so far in this program, innovation feels possible as other man-made constructed ideals. There must be adequate funding, a sense of respect for each member of the group, and institutional parameters permitting growth, however incremental. For example, the Black Archives were established originally as a student organization at Vrije Universit which has a structure for student groups to form and spaces for them to meet. As the Black Archives developed into its own entity, it still relied on government and societal frameworks to act as bumpers on this weak bowling alley metaphor I’m giving up on before I end this sentence.

Please, snoopers, do not cite me. You didn’t ask but still. I’m thinking out loud and I’m not equipped to handle backlash.

Ando Dutch Cat Watch Count

Still at 12 🙁

I need to stop thinking out loud and find more Dutch cats. This Dutch street cat image was donated by Miss Switchblade Sam.