START
The Rem Koolhaas/OMA Collection in the Netherlands Architecture Institute Rotterdam
12 February to 31 May 2004

The NAI acquired part of the archives of the then fledgling architect's office OMA as early as 1984, a collection that the NAI further added to in 1988 and in 1994 and that now consists of more than five hundred archives of Dutch architects and urban planners. The Rem Koolhaas/OMA archives are indisputably among the top ten. These archives contain their earliest Dutch work and date from the 1978-1995 period, with landmarks such as the Netherlands Dance Theatre in The Hague and the Kunsthal Rotterdam. Also represented are trailblazing projects, for instance the Centre for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Jussieu library in Paris. The START exhibition serves as an open depot where visitors can access a database to look for archive material. By setting up a workshop in which staff are actually working with material from the depot, the NAI will be demonstrating the kinds of activities involved in managing an archive. Daily from 12 to 4 p.m. a depot assistant will be available to answer any questions you may have and to provide you with study items from the Rem Koolhaas/ OMA archive.
Various narratives will be illustrated in the presentation room, using selections from the archive. These selections will be changed a number of times in the course of the exhibition, making several visits to the exhibition worthwhile.

curator: Linda Vlassenrood
exhibition design: Bart Guldemond, Herman Verkerk
graphic design: Experimental Jetset