Netherlands Foundation for
Visual Arts, Design and Architecture

Uitgelicht ('Spotlighted') is an ongoing series of large, annual group exhibitions, organized by the Fonds voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst (Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture). Part 4 of Uitgelicht took place between May 8th and May 16th, 2004, at the Kunstvlaai (Amsterdam), and we were asked to design the catalog for it.

The theme of that year's Uitgelicht revolved around the idea of '20 years after', and the invited artists were asked to send in samples (of their work) of what they believed would still be relevant in 20 years time: in 2024.
For the catalog, we decided to spotlight the opposite, and to introduce our own sub-theme, '20 years ago'. That would be 1984, quite a charged year. Apart from Orwell, it's a year most of us have vivid memories of. Our plan was to evoke the idea of 1984, while at the same time enabling everybody to maintain their own memories of it.

We started the book with a 24-page section, showing 12 one-sided sheets. These twelve sheets formed together an abstract calendar of the year 1984. As illustrations for this calendar, we used black squares, making it possible for everybody to project/mirror their own memories of 1984 onto the paper. The first sheet of this calendar was also the front cover of the book:


We ended the book with a 12-sheet abstract calendar of 2024, taking up the last 24 pages of the book. The last sheet of this calendar was also the back cover of the book:

Sandwiched inbetween 1984 and 2024 (in the 'now', so to speak), we placed the work of the artists, in a pretty straight-forward way: one artist per page. There was one small twist: keeping up with the chronological theme, we placed the artists not in alphabetical order, but according to their date of birth. Which turned out to be an interesting way to look at their work.


The foreword and introduction were placed in the book as inserts, as two folded sheets of A4 paper. We liked this idea, of these texts almost functioning like personal letters to the reader. Shown below one of these inserts:

The book has 320 pages, and measures 240 x 170 x 25 mm. The calendar sections are both printed on glossy paper, while the artists' section is printed on matte offset paper. Two different versions of the cover were printed, the only difference being the small image on the spine: half of the edition features an image by Peggy Franck on the spine, the other half an image by Helmut Dick.

The catalog can be ordered through www.fondsbkvb.nl

Thanks to the Fonds voor Beeldende Kunsten, Vormgeving en Bouwkunst, not only for inviting us for this project, but for their support throughout the years. (see Preface History)

Catalog printed by Drukkerij robstolk (r), Amsterdam.