Het Nieuwe Instituut and Aric Chen appointed artistic directors of London Design Biennale 2023

The London Design Biennale has announced that Rotterdam’s Het Nieuwe Instituut, led by Aric Chen, will oversee the artistic direction of the 2023 edition. The newly appointed team will curate the Biennale’s format of national pavilions, gathering projects and ideas under the theme of ‘Remapping Collaborations’. The announcement follows the 2021 edition, based on the theme of ‘Resonance’ and directed by Es Devlin.

Participants will be invited to develop a body of work that reimagines new forms of international cooperation and participation through design. To help define each national contribution, Het Nieuwe Instituut is developing a framework to guide participating design and research teams – a body of work that will be revealed at London Design Biennale Summit on 25 May 2022, taking place at London’s Chatham House.

‘The era of globalisation as we’ve known it is transforming into a new condition that we can’t yet define,’ comments Chen. ‘What we know for sure, however, is that in confronting our ever-growing planetary challenges, working together is more critical than ever – and we hope this biennale can act as a testing ground for examining new possibilities for doing so.’

‘In confronting our ever-growing planetary challenges, working together is more critical than ever – and we hope this biennale can act as a testing ground for examining new possibilities for doing so’ – Aric Chen

Established in 2013, Het Nieuwe Instituut is the Netherlands’ museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture. Chen was appointed as general and artistic director in May 2021, following a stint as curator of Design Miami. Upon his appointment to the Het Nieuwe Instituut position, Chen told Wallpaper*: ‘I’d like to see if we can take it a little further, exploring interdisciplinarity and even shifting the emphasis from thinking to doing. I’d like to push us to become even more of a testing ground and put words to actions – in a way that only a cultural institution can.’ 

‘The challenges facing the world today cannot be solved by one person, community or country alone,’ said Victoria Broackes, director of London Design Biennale. ‘Which is why we’re inviting participants to come together in their efforts to address issues facing the world, through design.’

INFORMATION
The London Design Biennale will run from 1-25 June 2023
londondesignbiennale.com (opens in new tab)
hetnieuweinstituut.nl (opens in new tab)