By Gabrielle Kennedy / 09-09-2010

While Dutch band Spinvis created music on iconic Dutch design objects, the question on everyone’s minds was just what Dingeman Kuilman has planned for his future.

A sort of old-fashioned Renaissance man in the true sense of the word, Kuilman is a published poet, a designer and key player in Dutch design’s ever evolving position within the broader political and cultural scene.  Recently stepped down from Premsela to take up the position of chairman of the executive board of ArtEZ Academy of Art and Design.

“I always thought you’d go into politics after Premsela,” said BNO director Rob Huisman, in one of th evening's speeches.

“Of course I think about my career,” Kuilman told Geert Staal during an on-stage interview.  “But it isn’t all mapped out.”

Staal tried to nudge Kuilman into acknowledging these rumoured political ambitions.  “Over the years you have expressed stronger and stronger opinions on cultural policy,” he said.

But Kuilman didn’t bite.  “Yes,” was all he offered in a masterful move that put an end to that particular line of questioning.

What was clear, however, is that whether it be in education or politics, Kuilman’s position on how the intellectual framework of design should be erected remains firm.  “Public administration in Holland should not be about being a neutral traffic controller,” he said.  “It should be about ideas and those ideas have to challenge people.  There is not nearly enough of this.”

Contributing to this change has always been one of Kuilman’s principal concerns at Premsela and explains why he decided to opt out of the private sector and into the role as head of the sector institute in the first place. “At a certain point in time you have your own ideas and you can either stand on the sidelines armed with your opinions and criticize, or you can take a risk with a new challenge.”

The programmes Kuilman initiated have been many and varied, but holding them together is a carefully crafted thread. “When I started, the cultural ideas surrounding design had become dogma,” he said.  “I felt that that needed to be opened up to other areas.  In the beginning I was surprised by how opening up discussions could run into so much resistance.”

It was not until he managed to overcome that opposition that Kuilman really managed to turn things around, reorient the organization’s position and create change.

Soon after Kuilman started with Premsela, the prevailing opinion was that cultural concerns were to be put aside in order to focus on economic matters.  

“That was a misunderstanding,” Kuilman said.  “It also confuses the relationship between culture and the economy because the production of symbols is culture and that is why you always need to consider the relationship between the two.  Production can only ever be an economic activity.”

When Staal broached the subject of the now cancelled plans to open a design museum in Amsterdam, Kuilman remained typically cerebral.  “Culture comes into being from the bottom up and it needs space to grow,” he said.  “The problem is that nobody has any patience.  People want instant success and instant success is only ever possible if you are copying something else.”

Another subject raised during the on-stage interview was Kuilman’s firm belief that more critical thinking is needed in the way design is written about and discussed. “Optimism can too easily degenerate into naivety,” he said.  “To prevent this a lot more criticism and reflection are needed.”

When all the tributes and speeches ended the question everyone was asking at the bar was what next for Premsela?  The new director is yet to be announced but the word is that whoever moves in will take over from where Kuilman left off - making the most of not just the programmes but also the vision he gave the organization.  “Premsela exists to ground the cultural aspects of design in thought and to stimulate that,” he said.

To mark Kuilman’s departure Gerard Unger designed a D (for design and Dingeman), which was mounted onto plaques as a farewell gift and made into pins for the guests in attendance.

Design.nl wishes him great success in his new role. 


Photos by Lizzy Kalisvaart

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