ROTTERDAM.- Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, has announced that he will leave the organization as of 27 June 2025 to take on a new challenge. He will become the Director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation in London. Chen has been with the Nieuwe Instituut for four years.

Under Chen’s leadership, significant strategic decisions have been made in recent years, and major steps have been taken in strengthening the national and international profile of the Nieuwe Instituut. Under his leadership, alongside former Managing Director Josien Paulides and current Managing Director Aukje Bolle, the Nieuwe Instituut swiftly recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, with 2023 and 2024 recording the highest visitor numbers since the institute’s founding in 2013.

During his tenure, the Nieuwe Instituut became the world’s first Zoöp, an organizational model inclusive of non-human life, and successfully gained recognition with projects such as Het Podium, The Energy Show, Workwear, REBOOT, Designing the Netherlands, Dutch, More or Less, and the upcoming Ma Yansong: Architecture & Emotion, set to open in May 2025. The institute also established its -1 digital culture lab, opened an innovative new children’s gallery and initiated Architectuur Overal, a coalition of Dutch architecture organisations working across policy and the public.

Internationally, the institute represented the Dutch design sector at events from Milan Design Week to the Dakar Biennale; commissioned the Dutch pavilion at the Venice Architecure Biennale; artistic directed the London Design Biennale; and curated the Netherlands’ cultural program at the forthcoming World Expo in Osaka. At the Triennale di Milano in 2022, the Dutch Pavilion - commissioned by the Nieuwe Instituut - won the prestigious Golden Bee Award.

Aric Chen: “I’m grateful for these four incredible years at Nieuwe Instituut, and for the exceptional colleagues, collaborators and supporters who have taken this very special place to where it is today, and who will continue to drive its agenda-setting mission. There is no institution in the world quite like Nieuwe Instituut, and I will sorely miss it.”

Aukje Bolle, Managing director: “It was a true pleasure to work with Aric, and I would have loved to continue our shared responsibility as board of directors of the Nieuwe Institute for a bit longer. We will miss Aric and wish him all the best on the exiting new challenge. His influence and inspiration will continue to be part of the DNA of the organization.

Farah Karimi, chair of the supervisory board: “We wholeheartedly congratulate Aric on this well-deserved next step in his career. We cannot thank him enough for the tremendous contribution he has made over the past four years to the substantive and organizational growth of the Nieuwe Instituut. Everyone in the organization will greatly miss him, and we congratulate the Zaha Hadid Foundation on welcoming such an outstanding director. We will soon devote ourselves to the arduous task of finding a suitable successor.”

Aric Chen will remain in his role until his departure, ensuring the completion of ongoing projects and a smooth transition. The vacancy for his successor will soon be published on the Nieuwe Instituut’s website.