Archives at Risk: Seeking Shelter – Hella Jongerius
In the library of the TextielMuseum you can now view a presentation about the archive of Hella Jongerius. It is the third iteration of the traveling installation Archives at Risk: Seeking Shelter, which highlights the uncertain future of Dutch design and digital culture archives.
‘Dutch Design’ may be world-renowned, along with Dutch artists being digital culture pioneers, but the archives of these designers are far from secure. In fact, an important part of Dutch design memory is in danger of disappearing. As at the moment, there is no central policy and structural funding in the Netherlands to preserve these archives. And it is precisely the social context provided by archives that offers in-depth interpretation and meaning to the maker’s practice and works.
Archives at Risk: Seeking Shelter
This traveling installation, initiated by the Network Archives Design and Digital Culture (NADD), addresses this urgency. Because, what happens to the archive when a design studio closes its doors? And what will be lost if no place is found for this heritage soon? Every three months, a new ‘archive at risk’ will be revealed at an institution/museum in the Netherlands. The presentation at the Textielmuseum in Tilburg highlights Jongerius’ extensive design practice by showing a variety of (archival) material and design pieces.
Jongeriuslab
Since founding Jongeriuslab (1993), Hella Jongerius has gained international fame with her unique vision of industry, craft, art, and design. Many people are familiar with Jongerius’ designs in glass and ceramics, including her ‘B-set’ tableware and IKEA vases. Her oeuvre pays particular attention to textile development. Jongerius has developed and designed rugs, fabrics, and furniture for companies such as Vitra, Kvadrat, and KLM. Jongerius’ textile design archive currently includes over 160 boxes of samples and models.
The archive
At this moment, TextielMuseum is seeking funding to acquire several Jongerius’ special objects and prototypes, which will be part of the museum’s collection along with the generous donation of the textile design archive.
The presentation is on view until the 16th of February in library of the TextielMuseum. The museum library is open from Tuesday through Thursday from 10:00-17:00h and Friday by appointment.
Archives at Risk: Seeking Shelter is curated by Annemartine van Kesteren (Curator of Design at Boijmans Van Beuningen) and designed by spatial designer Ben Shamier. This year, the installation will be on display at various NADD partners and showcase ten different endangered archives.
nieuweinstituut.nl/projects/nadd
textielmuseum.nl
jongeriuslab.com