Changing Ideals - Re-thinking the House

At the invitation of Guus Beumer, director of the NAi Maastricht / Bureau Europa, Dirk van den Heuvel curated the exhibition Changing Ideals - Re-thinking the House. The exhibition consisted of two parts: the Salon Imaginair which brought together various classic and provocative house designs, and the installation Living with Things, designed by Studio Makkink & Bey.

Houses on show in the Salon Imaginair ranged from the avant-garde to representatives of contemporary consumer culture, from early classicist cosmography to twentieth century private country homes: the 1956 House of the Future by Alison and Peter Smithson, the Visser house designed by Gerrit Rietveld with an addition by Aldo van Eyck, House VI by Peter Eisenman, the Domus Cosmografica of the Mauritshuis as designed by Jacop van Campen, the Endemol Big Brother house of the reality TV series, the IKEA Bo-Klok house, Greenwich Street loft by Winka Dubbeldam / Archi-Tectonics and the Soane's Museum by Sir John Soane. Photographer Johannes Schwartz was commissioned to visit and document the houses on display. Design of the exhibition was by Herman Verkerk / Eventarchitectuur, graphic design was by the Experimental Jetset. The show lasted from 4 November 2008 until 30 April 2009. 

Within the Salon Imaginair a special room was provided to organise actual salons to discuss the architecture of the house and the issues surrounding contemporary lifestyles, the house as a testing-ground for ideas as well as a demonstration site for new architecture concepts, participants included among others with architects Tony Fretton, Don Murphy, Mechthild Stuchmacher and Wim van den Bergh.

See also the NAiM Bureau Europa website and for a slide show: EventArchitectuur
For a review of the exhibition check the website of we-make-money-not-art.


Living with Things, Studio Makkink & Bey; Salon Imaginair, EventArchitectuur; GWS 497 Winka Dubbeldam
photography Johannes Schwartz

Colophon

Exhibition
Curator: Dirk van den Heuvel, TU Delft
Design exhibition: EventArchitectuur and Studio Makkink & Bey
Graphic Design: Experimental Jetset
Photography: Johannes Schwartz
Realisation: Guus van den Akker, Dirk van de Weijer, team TU Delft and team NAi Maastricht

Participants
Big Brother / Endemol
BoKlok / IKEA
Jacob van Campen
Coop Himmelb(l)au
Leo Copers
Winka Dubbeldam
Peter Eisenman
Aldo van Eyck
Gerrit Rietveld
John Soane
Alison & Peter Smithson
Sol LeWitt
Studio Makkink & Bey
Martin Visser
Madelon Vriesendorp and Charlie Koolhaas

Loans
Academie Beeldende Kunsten Maastricht
Archi-Tectonics New York - Winka Dubbeldam
Leo Copers
Endemol
BoKlok / IKEA, www.livesmarthomemedia.com
Faculteit Bouwkunde, TU Delft
Studio Makkink & Bey
Suzanne and Dick Frank
Joke van der Heyden and Martin Visser
Museum of Modern Art New York
Smithson Family Archive
TECTA Lauenförde
Trésorcollectie, TU Delft Library
Wendela van der Hoeven
Madelon Vriesendorp

Special thanks for their support and help:
Monique Aalbers, Endemol Nederland
Winka Dubbeldam and staff at Archi-Tectonics
Cynthia Davidson and Peter Eisenman
Christian Drescher and Axel Bruchhäuser, TECTA
Suzanne and Dick Frank
Joke van der Heyden and Martin Visser
Tim Knox, Soane’s museum
Marietje Ruigrok, TU Delft Library
Neil Shaefer, Livesmart@home
Julia Smith, Ideal Home Show
Madeleine Steigenga
Maartje Voulon, Endemol International

Advisory Board
Barry Bergdoll (MoMA NY)
Beatriz Colomina (Princeton University)
Dick van Gameren (TU Delft)
Max Risselada (TU Delft)
Madeleine Steigenga

The exhibition was made possible through the generous support from the following sponsors:
Main Sponsor: Vesteda
Partners: 3W Vastgoed and RO groep
The photography commission for Johannes Schwartz was made possible by a grant from the Dutch Fonds BKVB

NAi Maastricht / Bureau Europa is supported by the city of Maastricht and Provincie Limburg