WORK, BODY, LEISURE

Het Nieuwe Instituut is the commissioner of the Dutch Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2018, entitled WORK, BODY, LEISURE, the theme of the official Dutch contribution to the event.

With the title WORK, BODY, LEISURE, the 2018 Dutch Pavilion addresses the spatial configurations, living conditions, and notions of the human body engendered by disruptive changes in labor ethos and conditions. The project seeks to foster new forms of creativity and responsibility within the architectural field in response to emerging technologies of automation.

From New Babylon to Rotterdam Harbour

The Netherlands is, arguably, a testing ground where the future of labor has been and continues to be reimagined. The work of architect and artist Constant Nieuwenhuys has been a particular trigger for this conversation. In Constant’s New Babylon (1956–74)—an architectural paradigm of free space and leisure afforded by automation—society devotes its energy to creativity and play, and individuals can design their own environments. And yet, as Constant’s oeuvre evolved, his optimistic vision on the possibilities and pleasures of automated labor gradually gave way to a more conflicted perspective. Violence would not be eradicated by the new technological order, mobilized to satisfy society’s immediate needs; it would become, rather, an intrinsic part of its processes and aims.

Contributors: Amal Alhaag, Beatriz Colomina, Marten Kuijpers, Victor Muñoz Sanz, Simone C. Niquille, Mark Wigley

For more information about the exhibition, the programs and publication, check out: WORK, BODY, LEISURE
 For the exhibition Océ made a print with relief of the painting Erotic Space from 1971.