Building The Visual Mind


The dreams keep streaming
Past the screen of the spirit
What is life… seeing?


  • Haiku by Nicolaï-Chaillet, C. (Cora), 
    Collectie Het Nieuwe Instituut

The exhibition ‘Building the Visual Mind’ places archival material from the Digital Archive of ‘Het Nieuwe Instituut’ into new narratives. 3D models, digitized glass negatives, sketches, blueprints, and images from the heritage collection of Het Nieuwe Instituut all play a role in a parallel and virtual reality that takes the visitor on an immersive journey through the evolution of the Digital Archive. It thus shows how the archive and architecture continuously relate to technological evolution, from analogue to digital.

The glass negatives (by Cuypers, among others), drawings, blueprints by various architects, and 3D models (by MVRDV, among others) from the heritage collection are examined in the artistic research project Building the Visual Mind by Donna Verheijden, from the perspective of the re-mixing maker, the creative re-user of digital heritage. Parallel to the exhibition,
a program consisting of various activities is offered. This program aims to give more depth to the exhibition and focuses on Het Nieuwe Instituut’s digital collection.

During the program, the exhibition Building the Visual Mind is used as a case study to discuss various themes explored during the project’s artistic research.

Building the Visual Mind is made possible by the Digital Heritage x Public grant scheme of the Creative Industries Fund NL and started in 2019.
Furthermore, Building the Visual Mind has been supported by Katsu.Pro and Boer & van Wijk.

Exhibition Design van Leeuwenstein, Donna Verheijden
Date 2019-2021
Type Audiovisual installation
Genre creative re-use, archives, appropriation, experimental film, artwork
Partner Het Nieuwe Instituut
Translation AF Wordsmiths

Produced with the support of
Creative Industries Fund NL
Katsu.Pro
Het Nieuwe Instituut
Boer en van Wijk

Read more here:
• An interview with NDE