TE KOOP OP AFBRAAK - For Sale Before Demolition

Location : Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam

Client : Nieuwe Instituut - Dutch More or Less

Status : Exhibition, 2025

Photograph : Nieuwe Instituut

Currator : Aric Chen

Film : Paul Swagerman

A built fragment, made from repurposed materials, unfolds hidden material narratives.

Built from locally sourced and dismantled materials, this fragment explores new languages and meanings in an architecture of reuse. A short film series traces the process, from material harvesting and hidden histories to final assembly, rethinking the act of building from the outset.

Made of reclaimed wood, plastic and earth, the installation tells stories of PFAS pollution, colonial extraction and intensive farming. The structure incorporates old Rotterdam mooring bollards made of basralocus hardwood, once plundered from the Guianas. Compacted earth blocks created using Rotterdam’s excavated soil are stacked to form a low wall, supporting polycarbonate panels, salvaged from industrial Dutch poultry farms.

Dutch, more or less is an exhibition about thirty years of design from the Netherlands. Up-and-coming designers have been invited to create new work for this exhibition, offering a glimpse into the future of (Dutch?) design. The third in this series of temporary installations is TE KOOP OP AFBRAAK - For Sale Before Demolition by Studio ACTE, on show from 3 April until 24 August 2025