Widdershoven will appear at the opening of the academic year on 06 September to say goodbye to students, teachers and staff, and will attend the official opening of the Broken White exhibition – a cooperation between Design Academy Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum – next October before officially leaving the academy on 15 October 2016.
“During [Widdershoven’s] years as chairman many changes were implemented and realised,” says a statement from the Dutch university. “The academy was newly positioned. This new position, which resonated both inside and outside the academy, has been researched and presented in three exhibitions in the Van Abbemuseum and in China. Also, new design departments were created and the Bachelor education and DAE organisation were restructured. Financially the academy is in balance, partly through the sale of the WitteDame building.”
Widdershoven, who fulfilled his position at Design Academy Eindhoven part-time while continuing to work for Thonik, the design studio he founded with Nikki Gonnissen in 1993, says, “The past years I mainly focused on my responsibilities at Design Academy Eindhoven. Now that the academy is in good shape, I have decided to put my focus on Thonik again. With satisfaction and pleasure I look back on an intensive and fruitful time at Design Academy Eindhoven.” In his resignation letter, which has been made public and is published below in full, he called the move “a difficult decision” and described his time at Design Academy Eindhoven “an intense and beautiful collaboration.”
A replacement has not yet been named and will be decided upon over the institution’s summer break. “The Supervisory Board wishes to thank Thomas Widdershoven for his efforts at Design Academy Eindhoven – the board is pleased with the changes he implemented under his direction,” says a statement. “The Supervisory Board will use the summer period to reflect on the procedure and the profile for Thomas Widdershoven’s successor. With Jurriënne Ossewold as director of education, research and organisation, and a member of the executive board, the continuity of the academy is guaranteed.”
Winndershoven’s resignation letter in full:
Dear students and colleagues,
We are on the threshold of yet another summer holiday, the fourth since I joined Design Academy Eindhoven. Time has flown, I must admit, and it feels almost strange to acknowledge that the end of my four-year term as Creative Director and Chair of the Board is drawing near.
Over the past few months I have been considering my future plans and ambitions. In the interest of our school I want to be clear about the result of this thought process. After careful consideration I have decided not to be available for a second term in my present position.
It has been a difficult decision.
In the last years we have embarked on a road of changes and I am happy to have played a role in this. I hope you share my opinion that these are changes for the better.
The academy has a new story and a new position in the world of design. We look at the outside world. We recognise problems that need to be addressed. We see opportunities arise. Rather than suggesting oversimplified solutions we create alternatives.
Our creative practice allows us to raise fundamental questions, and we can propose fundamental changes. Now that technology is democratized, small initiatives have the potential to make a big impact on the world. A small institute like ours has become more relevant then ever before.
Today’s students are digital natives. This has profoundly changed the nature of education. A school is no longer the place where the old world is passed on to a new generation, contemporary education is about the collaborative invention of a new world – in a dialogue between an older and a new generation of designers. That is the essence of the new educational approach at Design Academy Eindhoven.
This new story has been researched and presented in three consecutive exhibitions we staged at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. Self Unself (2013) looked at the unselfish inclination of a new type of designer. Sense Nonsense (2014) investigated the validity of a poetic approach as a method for innovation. And finally Thing Nothing (2015) delved into the value of design in a dematerialising world.
Our highly successful Graduation Shows attracted large audiences and generated widespread public acclaim for the new story. But more than that: they demonstrated the ingenuity, relevance and dedication expressed in the projects of our graduates.
The international focus of the academy was a major issue during my years as Creative Director. We can be proud of some great presentations in Milan. In 2014 the new department Food NonFood staged the truly provocative Eat Shit event. And in 2015 Touch Base was received with great enthusiasm. Other successful international presentations have been held in New York, Suzhou, Macau, Paris and Shenzhen. And in Hong Kong we organised a three-month workshop to strengthen our international agenda.
Crucially important for the continuity of the academy – although less visible to many of you – were the efforts to solidify the school’s financial position. Thanks to all involved we are financially healthy. We now rent, instead of own the academy building, which has freed us from a rather costly burden.
The Supervisory Board recently approved an investment budget of €2.5 million that allows us to proceed with the educational and professional development in the coming years. There are plans to organise a dialogue programme and to adjust the interior of the building. We added a new space on the first floor, that will develop into a new entrance.
The organisation today has become a lot less hierarchic. Instead of heads for different staff departments (like communications, facilities, operations, human resources and education), we now assign responsibilities to dedicated teams that organise their own processes.
Bachelor education has not only been restructured but also revitalised. Two new departments were introduced: Stijn Roodnat now heads Public Private (a merger of two former departments) and Marije Vogelzang started Food NonFood. The former Kompas programme (with four separate heads) has been reframed into Skills and Urgencies, directed by a multi-faceted editorial team.
In 2014 Design Curating and Writing started as a new, fourth Master department. Headed by Justin McGuirk and recently Alice Twemlow this department adds critical reflection to the palette of our Master programme.
We have had an intense and productive collaboration with the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), our main financial partner. Discussions with the minister touched on the importance of our school for contemporary culture, education and society as a whole.
The support of the ministry, the enthusiasm of the Van Abbemuseum, the appreciation shown by press and general public, the warm welcome we experienced abroad and above all the quality and urgency of the work made by our students have made it all worthwhile. I thoroughly enjoyed my presence in this amazing school.
So why did I decide against a second term?
As Creative Director and Chair I had a part-time position at the academy. Meanwhile I kept working at Thonik, the design studio Nikki Gonnissen and I founded in 1993. While the school was in need of a new foundation, Thonik could build on a strong base. This explains why, over these past few years, the focus of my work was on the academy.
But as I was contemplating a second term in Eindhoven it became clear to me how important my actual involvement in design is. Thonik is expanding its activities into new fields and new countries: an exciting prospect for the studio and a development I definitely want to be part of. And, for the first time in my life, I have started work on an architectural project.
I am confident that the academy holds a strong position. In terms of finance, reputation, organisation and education Design Academy Eindhoven faces a bright future. I will miss the students who are shaping this future, and I shall miss the team. Continuity in the board is in good hands with my fellow board member Jurriënne Ossewold. I want to thank you all for an intense and beautiful collaboration.
After the summer I will step down. The opening of the new academic year on September 6th provides a perfect opportunity to say goodbye to you in person. I hope everyone can join to toast to the future of the academy, the students and all of us. I will formally leave the academy on October 15th.
Best wishes,
Thomas Widdershoven
Creative Director
Chair of the Board
Design Academy Eindhoven
