News — Oct 16, 2012

16 October – 9 January 2010
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Opening: Friday 15 October, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.

Every year, the Dutch Best Designed Books Foundation (Stichting De Best
Verzorgde Boeken) presents the best-designed books of the past year.
This year, 30 books have been selected from all those published in the
Netherlands in 2009. They will be on view at the Stedelijk Museum from
16 October on, as part of a unique program called The Temporary Stedelijk
at the Stedelijk Museum.

For this annual juried event, five professionals from the Dutch publishing
world select books that are notable both for their design and production. This
year, local publishers, commissioning bodies, designers and printers together
submitted a total of 415 books published throughout 2009; a jury consisting
of designers Volken Beck and Ben Laloua, publisher Nina Post (post editions,
Rotterdam), printer Paul van Mameren (Drukkerij Lecturis, Eindhoven) and
design publicist Frederike Huygen then chose 30 to stand as the Best Designed
Books of 2009.

The selection on view includes the Dutch translation of Paul Auster’s
novel Invisible (Onzichtbaar, designed by Bart Rouwhorst, Studio Ron van
Roon), Fjodor Dostojevski’s Crime and Punishment (Misdaad en straf, designed
by Anneke Germers and Teus de Jong) and the children’s book Aadje Piraatje,
written by Marjet Huiberts and illustrated by Sieb Posthuma (designed by
Bockting Ontwerpers).
The internationally renowned Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom has
several books in this year’s competition: Song Through 21st Century Eyes:
Yaozhou and Qingbai Ceramics by Rose Kerr, Bladeren door het Amerikaanse
landschap: Een index van boeken en beelden by Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam and
Darfur and the Crisis of Governance in Sudan: A Critical Reader by Salah M.
Hassan and Carina E. Ray.


The Stedelijk Museum submitted the publication Off the Record. Proposal
for Municipal Art Acquisitions 2009, a design by Sabine Verschueren. Other
outstanding entries are Katinka Lampe: Kate, Bob & Luca, designed by 75B, and Design
& Production Bible, designed by Klaus Krogh and Hugo van Woerden.
The Amsterdam-based design-team Mevis & Van Deursen, commissioned
to produce the special identity for The Temporary Stedelijk at the Stedelijk
Museum, is selected with Open City: Designing Coexistence, by Tim Rieniets,
Jennifer Sigler and Kees Christiaanse, published on the occasion of the
International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam. This design was also given an
honorable international mention this Spring at the Schönste Bücher aus aller
Welt (Best Book Design from all over the World) in Leipzig, Germany. Designs by
Mevis & Van Deursen are regularly nominated at Best Designed Books and the
duo won several prizes at the Schönste Bücher aus aller Welt: the photo book
Baghdad Calling by Geert van Kesteren even acquired a silver medal in 2009.
This year’s Best Designed Books exhibition will travel to venues in the
Netherlands and abroad, and is accompanied by a catalogue published by
The Best Designed Books Foundation, containing a jury report on all the books
selected. (Design Hansje van Halem, € 27,50, ISBN 978 90 5965 125 8.)
Best Designed Books is organized by the Best Designed Books
Foundation, in partnership with the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.