Kars Veling opens ‘political’ exhibition ‘Declaring reason’ in Museum Meermanno| House of the book
On Friday afternoon, 2nd of June, philosopher Kars Veling, former head of ProDemos and Member of Parliament, opened the exhibition ‘Declaring Reason – KABK Graphic Design Students Decipher Political Books’. Kars Veling, who is also a member of the museum’s supervisory board, will discuss the interesting partnership between the museum and the Royal Academy of Arts The Hague (KABK) and the relevance of art for an open-minded approach to tradition, also in view of its current meaning. Democracy is being challenged nowadays. It is good to be challenged by creative and curious artists.
The exhibition ‘Declaring Reason – KABK Graphic Design Students Decipher Political Books’ is open to the public until 24 September 2017 in Museum Meermanno | House of the book.
Unique partnership
The exhibition ‘Declaring reason’ is a unique co-operation between Museum Meermanno and the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague (KABK). In the previous semester, 45 third-year students Graphic Design studied six ‘political’ books from Museum Meermanno’s collection.
Exciting exhibition
The result of their efforts is the exciting exhibition ‘Declaring Reason’, showing 23 installations that question urgent contemporary political scenarios. They invite the visitor to contemplate our democratic values and how they are at stake in a time of fake news and social media hypes.
Six crucial books
The six books that form the backbone of the exhibition are: Atlas Maior (1662–1665), Johannes Blaeu; Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), Baruch Spinoza; Encyclopédie (1751–1772), Denis Diderot & Jean le Rond d’Alembert, Du Contrat Social (1762), Jean Jacques Rousseau; Aan het volk van Nederland (To the People of the Netherlands, 1781), Joan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol and the Dutch Constitution of 1814.
Museum Meermanno | Huis van het boek
Prinsessegracht 30
2514 AP Den Haag
www.meermanno.nl
open: dinsdag t/m zondag 11.00-17.00 uur
‘Declaring Reason’ was supervised by teachers Niels Schrader and Lauren Alexander from the Royal Academy of Arts and by philosopher Maarten Cornel. The exhibition is part of the programme that Museum Meermanno organizes together with the National Library of the Netherlands in The Hague.
For more information and/or photomaterial:
Aafke Boerma, communications Museum Meermanno
boerma@meermanno.nl
06 23 63 71 01