Press release and opening

Press release and opening The Hague Design and Government 'The voter seduced?'

27.04.2010

April 27 the programme for The Hague Design and Government was presented at the former PTT museum before a room full of national press and stakeholders. Successively seven lecturers told short, personal and very interesting stories in relation to the subject Design and Government. All emphasized the importance of a good relation between government and the creative (design)sector.

The audience was welcomed by Titus Yocarini, director of the museum and co-creator of the exhibition 'The voter seduced?'. Then the Hague Alderman for Culture and Finance, Marieke Bolle, spoke about the importance of a strong creative sector in The Hague and the ambition for the city to be European capital of Culture 2018. Liesbeth in ' Hout, chair of foundation Design Den Haag, explained the background and goal of the foundation: the relationship between the regulatory and contracting authority and enhance our creative ability.

Ed Annink, initiator of the multi-annual initiative The Hague Design and Government and programmer 2010, explained how the initiative got to this point: "In 2007 I was superintendent for the already existing two-annual Utrecht Manifest, about design and its social significance. When I was in a bus with people from The Hague, including some Hague officials, that I had shown around, I was asked by the city if I could do something similar for The Hague. After a few weeks I chose the obvious topic Design and Government, The Hague is unique in the Netherlands through its government position. Every other year, The Hague will cooperate with another government city" For the first edition of The Hague Design and Government, in cooperation with many partners, a varied programme was assembled through creativity, curiosity and diversity on the field of public design, architecture and visual communication. And of course the Hague design agency Ontwerpwerk, of which he is partner, designs the exhibitions, publications and campaign materials.

Designer Bruno Ninaber van Eyben spoke about designing the Guilder, of which he got the assignment in 1980 after he had won a design competition written by the government. The assignment helped the young designer for the rest of his career and gave him a freedom that is unique in Europe. In 1999 he designed the country specific side of the Euro (with the portrait of Queen Beatrix).

Eminance grise of the design world Gert Dumbar spoke about the first time he used, the worldwide known 'Dutch Design' in the '70s. He produced exhibitions about Dutch Design for the government that travelled all over the world, with this he showed the importance of a good relationship between governments and designers. With a nod to Ninaber he illustrated that it was not the first time the government spoke about design with the design of the Guilder, but when they discussed his yellow and blue design for NS trains, and his never seen before railway booklet of the sixties.

The European Commission in The Hague was represented by Bart Roelandt. In cooperation with the Representation of the European Commission in The Hague, December last year, designers worldwide where challenged to design a new symbol for Europe. The Commission, of course, is very curious about Europe's view of Europeans and people from abroad, and from that perspective is very pleased with the positive entries and the large number of responses to the call: over 1400! A specially constructed international jury selected twelve proposals. Bart Roelandt had the honour of announcing the twelve "new symbols for Europe", in the company of two of the designers from the Netherlands. He called on everyone to look at all proposals, and you can see them here.

In conclusion, Yocarini Titus opened the exhibition "The voter seduced?". The exhibition is the first in a series of activities within the framework of The Hague Design and Government and gives an overview of Dutch and German election posters since 1918. The exhibition has been enthusiastically reviewed. In the sunny garden of the museum a toast was made to the kick-off of The Hague Design and Government.

The complete programme can be found here.