Nieuwe Instituut

Dutch, More or Less: Contemporary Architecture, Design and Digital Culture is a presentation of more than 30 years of Dutch design. Rather than retelling the history of Dutch design, it brings together the ideas, themes and projects that have placed Dutch designers at the forefront of international design. But how do they differ from other designers? And how has the image of “more or less Dutch” design evolved?

Fungi – better known as moulds or mushrooms – satisfy many human needs. We have long eaten mushrooms, for example, and used penicillin to fight bacteria. Today, fungi are being embraced as a new, on-trend material in the worlds of design and architecture. Providing a counterbalance to this human-centred approach is FUNGI: Anarchist Designers. This exhibition, curated by anthropologist Anna Tsing and architect and artist Feifei Zhou (terriStories), presents fungi as independent organisms that thrive in unique, multi-species environments and in the ruins of capitalism.

With Another Island, researcher and audiovisual artist Janilda Bartolomeu presents a film installation that depicts the dreams of the Cape Verdean diaspora. Through this piece, Bartolomeu offers a personal and poetic reflection on the shared heritage and potential future of the Cape Verdean archipelago and its diaspora communities in Rotterdam and Dakar.

-1 Digital Lab: Part laboratory, part exhibition space, -1 Digital Lab responds to the urgent need to address critical issues in digital culture, from the rapid advancement of AI and the reemergence of do-it-yourself technology to the inclusion of more diverse and alternative voices in computing.