Close the year with the best events for your December diary.
As the year draws to a close, make the most of the few days you have left and head to some of the best art and design events in December. We bring you the events and exhibitions taking place in Amsterdam, Den Bosch and Rotterdam.
Words: Thomas Dahm / 01 Dec 2024
ITERATIONS 2024
Design Museum, Den Bosch
6 + 7 December 2024
This is the fourth edition of ITERATIONS, which explores how recent technological developments are empowering makers to generate new creative avenues. The creative coding landscape is set to evolve significantly in the coming few years. These developments will be explored in depth at the upcoming creative coding symposium, ITERATIONS.
In line with their commitment to inclusivity, they have invited a diverse group of creatives from across the creative coding spectrum. This edition focus on four key themes: developing design tools (in the browser), sustainable computing, world-building, and creative education. ITERATIONS delve into these themes through a series of presentations, performances, interactive sessions, and workshops.
Immersive Tech Week
De Doelen, Rotterdam
4, 5, 6 December 2024
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, VRDays / Immersive Tech Week continues to champion the XR community, highlighting a decade of creativity, innovation, and transformative progress. The event unites visionaries and innovators to explore the potential of immersive experiences, featuring five sectoral tracks focused on XR’s real-world impact in Healthcare, Education, Training, Creative Industries, Media, and Entertainment. From surgery simulations to educational advancements, the program showcases cutting-edge applications and business solutions. Renowned speakers, including Anouk Wipprecht, Leland Hedges, and Thomas Dexmier, add to the event’s exploration of XR’s evolving possibilities.
Garden Futures: Designing with Nature
Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
16 November 2024 – 13 April 2025
Garden Futures is an exhibition that explores the history and future of gardens, highlighting their evolution from idyllic retreats to experimental spaces for biodiversity, social justice, and sustainability. Showcasing works by designers and artists like Roberto Burle Marx, Jamaica Kincaid, and Derek Jarman, the exhibition examines personal gardens as spaces for creativity, connection, and resilience. It also delves into the political and commercial influences on gardens, from colonial plant trades to wartime vegetable plots. Emphasizing sustainability, it presents innovative concepts like vertical forests, urban farms, and food forests. Originally displayed at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, the Dutch edition incorporates works by local designers and examples of Rotterdam’s green initiatives, while addressing the challenges of preserving garden and landscape architecture archives.
The Best Dutch Book Designs 2023
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Until 5 January 2025
The Netherlands has a long-standing tradition of celebrating excellence in book design. This selection demonstrates the pinnacle of Dutch graphic design, featuring 33 books chosen by an expert jury from 282 entries. The books were selected for their exemplary design, printing and binding techniques, lithography and commissioning. The selection includes poetry collections, art, photography and architecture books, non-fiction and children’s books.
Supreme – Resampling the World
Design Museum, Den Bosch
23 November 2024 – 23 March 2025
The Supreme brand, known for its iconic red-and-white logo, has become a global cultural phenomenon, particularly among youth. Its logo appears on an eclectic range of items, from T-shirts and skateboards to folding chairs and porcelain figurines, creating a frenzy of demand with each weekly product drop. The Design Museum Den Bosch is hosting the first museum exhibition dedicated to Supreme, intentionally without the brand’s collaboration. The exhibition explores how Supreme’s hype-driven strategy, rooted in youth culture, logomania, and resale markets, reflects broader themes of consumerism, brand power, and the intersections of commerce and culture.