Het Nieuwe Instituut, the institute for architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, announced the appointment of Aric Chen as its new General and Artistic Director.
Chen has assumed the post remotely before relocating full-time to Rotterdam on 1 September 2021.
He joins Josien Paulides, Managing Director, on the institute’s Board of Directors and succeeds former General and Artistic Director Guus Beumer, who retired in May.
“Het Nieuwe Instituut is a young institution with a long history – one that I’ve greatly admired over the years,” says Chen.
“It’s an enormous privilege to have this chance to build on the ground-breaking, pioneering work that the institute and its staff have done, and to draw on the many well-known strengths of the Dutch cultural and creative communities and their extensive international links in tackling critical questions about our pasts, presents and futures.”
As part of his transition to Het Nieuwe Instituut, Chen will complete his current term as Curatorial Director of Design Miami in November 2021, while his involvement in the Curatorial Lab at the College of Design & Innovation at Tongji University, Shanghai, will continue through spring 2022.
