THE LAW OF MARKET FORCES IN THE DUTCH MUSEUM WORLD

This thesis would not have been possible without Graduation Supervisor Prof. Dr. Füsun Türetken. Thank you for the feedback, knowledge, and expertise.

I am also deeply thankful for my Typography and Coding tutors François Girard-Meunier and Thomas Buxo for their assistance with developing and refining the thesis website.

I would like to extend my thanks to Suzanne Swarts, director of museum Voorlinden who agreed to be interviewed for this thesis. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the help of Sarah Jane Carter and Sue Dunlop for providing me with feedback and proofreading.

This thesis focuses on the financial side of the Dutch museum landscape. According to ICOM, the international museum council, a museum must function in a certain way to call itself a ‘museum’. Over the last few years, a lot of privately owned museums opened worldwide, but also in The Netherlands. How museums get funded is something that will be discussed in this thesis. In this thesis I also compare the current political and financial atmosphere of the museum sector of The Netherlands with the healthcare sector in the beginning of the 21^st century. A time of reorganisation of the health insurance system.

1. Dissertation acknowledgements

2. Abstract

3. Table of contents

4. Introduction

5. Museums in the Anthropocene

   1. Museums in society

   2. Rijkscollectie

6. The position of the Dutch government in the financial side of the public sector

   1. Public funding

   2. The law of the financial market

   3. Private funding

   4. Philantrophy

   5. Dutch House of Representatives elections of 2023

7. Private museums

8. Conclusion

9. Bibliography

10. Appendix: interview with Suzanne Swarts

11. Typeface

12. Legal Disclaimer

During my third year of studying Graphic Design at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) I started working at museum Voorlinden in Wassenaar. At this museum you can see a fine selection of mostly modern and contemporary art. Located out of town, museum Voorlinden is approximately a 25-minute cycle ride from Den Haag centre. For the past few years, I have frequently visited the museum enjoying the fascinating art works that have been exhibited there. You enter the estate through gates, in the distance you can see an old manor house, surrounded by gardens, ponds and cows grazing in fields. Walking towards the manor, you come across another building, with an impressive modern structure with walls made of glass and sandstone and a white roof. Together, the museum and the natural surrounding landscape takes you to a special place, far away from everyday life. When entering the museum, you see a lot of white walls, flooded with day light creating a minimalistic place (“Case: …”).

During the first months that I worked at the museum, I was fascinated how visitors interacted with the art on display. By observing people, you could tell if people knew something about the artwork or artists or if people came to enjoy art for fun. I really enjoyed my time in the galleries guiding people and sharing information about the artworks.

Modern and contemporary art are a big passion of mine. I enjoy going to museums, to explore the art world. I try to visit at least one or two museums per week. This was also a reason why I purchased a Museumkaart. It is the yearly Dutch national card for museum visits (“Bestel”). During my time at Museum Voorlinden I also experienced that some museums, like museum Voorlinden or Escher in het Paleis, do not accept the Museumkaart as a discount entry on into museums (“Plan je …” and “Ticketprijzen”). But why do some museums accept it, and others do not? With this thesis I want to focus on the financial side of museums. How does museum funding work? What is the financial structure of the Dutch government towards public and private museums in society? Are either public or private funded museums better?

Museums in society

In 2022, there were 631 museums in The Netherlands. We can divide the museums into five topics: historical, art, business-science-technology, natural history, and cultural anthropology. 64% of the museums call themselves an ‘historical museum’ and 19% an ‘art museum’ (“Hoeveel …”). 469 museums in The Netherlands are associated to the Museumvereniging. This is the Dutch national museum association, that also provides the earlier mentioned Museumkaart (“Museumcijfers”). The cost for an adult Museumkaart is € 75 per year (“Museumkaart …”)

According to the Museumvereniging, in 2022 there was a total of 23.5 million museum visitors, 5.6 million which were international visitors. 1.3 million Dutch citizens have a Museumkaart, which amounts to 7.1 million museum visits in 2022. It is important to know that these figures are only of museums associated to the Museumvereniging (“Museumcijfers”). According to the CBS, there were 17.6 million citizens living in The Netherlands in 2022 (“Bevolkingsteller”). This means that roughly 7% of the Dutch people are frequently visiting museums, looking only at Museumkaart holders.

ICOM , created in 1946, is an international non-governmental organization that is associated to most of the museums worldwide. In 2022, the Extraordinary General Assembly of ICOM approved the proposal for a new museum definition: “A museum is a not-for-profit, permanent institution in the service of society that researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits tangible and intangible heritage. Open to the public, accessible and inclusive, museums foster diversity and sustainability. They operate and communicate ethically, professionally and with the participation of communities, offering varied experiences for education, enjoyment, reflection and knowledge sharing.” (Museum Definition). This made me wonder, how do museums in The Netherlands position themselves in this definition?

Rijkscollectie

Since 1875 the Rijksoverheid has been collecting works of art. The collection contains art works that are bought by the state, but also through waiver schemes and BKR (“Musea, …”). The Rijkscollectie contains approximately 50 million cultural objects (“Wat Is …”). The collections are possible to visit in the 24 rijksmusea Rijksmusea . More and more artworks of the Rijkscollectie are open to the public at the online collections of museums or the website of the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (Collectie Nederland). The digital accessibility is important, since lot of the Rijkscollectie is stored in depots (“Waar Is …”). The Rijksstudio of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam is probably the most well-known digital collection of the Rijkscollectie. The website functions as a sort of Pinterest page, where you can pin artworks to your own collections, download them for free and use them however you want (“Rijksstudio”).

Public funding

The ministerie van OCW provides approximately € 497 million for the Culturele Basisinfrastructuur for the period of 2025 to 2028. This money is used for subsidy requests in the arts and culture sector. The ministry provides € 3.4 million for twelve regional museums, one for each province (“Hoe Ziet …”). This does not mean that there is no subsidy for other museums. Another way of national governmental subsidy is the Mondriaan Fonds . The foundation calls themselves a ‘financer and booster of the visual arts and heritage sector of The Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the kingdom’ (“Over Het Fonds”). During and after the COVID-19 pandemic the Mondriaan Fonds provided € 60 thousand yearly to 27 museums (Groenewoud, Afran).

On other governmental levels it is also possible to request subsidies. The province of Noord-Brabant is for example providing a total of € 30.5 million for cultural institutes within the province for four years (“Hedendaagse …”). In the city of Den Haag (province of Zuid-Holland), a museum can request a yearly subsidy between € 50 thousand and € 1.1 million for four years (“Subsidie …”).

According to the Museumverening, government departments funded 73% of the total shares for museums (that are affiliated to the Museumvereniging) in 2022. Half of the museums have the municipality as their most important shareholder. A quarter of the museums have their own revenues and private funding as their most important source of finance (“Museumcijfers”).

Besides museums funded by the government, there are also museums that are privately funded. One example is the aforementioned museum Voorlinden. As part of my research, I conducted an interview with Suzanne Swarts, director of the museum. Swarts explained that every citizen contributes to subsidising public museums, through the taxes we pay. This also includes people who might not be willing to visit museums (Appendix).

The law of the financial market

Although liberalism is a political movement that has existed already for a long time, it became very popular in The Netherlands and many other countries in the beginning of the 21^st century (Nwanazia). Liberalism is a political theory that stresses the importance of the individual (Berg). Neo liberalism is a subcategory from this political stream that focuses more on market mechanism in society instead of the state being the caretaker of its citizens (Manning). The thought behind is that this notion is very beneficial for a capitalist society, in order to work well (“Lilian …”).

From the beginning, healthcare and art and cultural institutions have been a part of the so-called quaternary sector of the economy. This means that these institutions are not focused on making profit. The sector is also called the non-commercial services sector (“Economische …”).

This made me question at what point is this explanation for the arts and culture and healthcare sector still valid? In the early 2000’s the Dutch healthcare system got privatised. The idea behind privatisation of the healthcare sector was that the market mechanism would be financially beneficial for both hospitals and patients. This would be created through the competition between semi-public health insurance companies (Kuijper).

In 1976, in the middle of the new working-class neighbourhoods of Amsterdam, Slotervaart, Queen Juliana opened the (socialist) Slotervaartziekenhuis . The hospital was dismissed as the rubbish pit of the Amsterdam based hospitals. For the city, the Slotervaartziekenhuis was extremely important, serving mostly elderly people, people with drug addictions, sex workers and people with HIV. The hospital was because of its ideology a welcoming environment, it had a very informal atmosphere. Doctors were approachable (“MC Slotervaart: ...”). For a long time, the hospital was in financial distress. Therefore in 1997 the hospital was privatised and continued as a foundation. Unfortunately, after privatisation the hospital experienced even more financial difficulties.

In the 1990’s, Aysel Erbudak (Damal, Türkiye, 1966) got in touch with Jan Schram in Amsterdam. Schram, a mystery businessman enjoyed looking at financial figures. Around the summer of 2006, Schram was in the Slotervaartziekenhuis as a pulmonary emphysema patient (“Ex-eigenaar …”). Knowing that the hospital was in financial problems, Schram requested the annual reports of the hospital. On the 11^th of August, 2006, an advertisement in the newspaper stated that the Slotvervaartziekenhuis was for sale (Rosenberg and Tamminga). Together, on the 31^st of August 2006, Erbudak and Schram bought the Slotervaartziekenhuis. Erbudak, directly entering the position as chairman of the board, was in the spotlight. Schram, shareholder of the company, decided to keep his distance.

The hospital was released into a world ruled by the capitalist market, patients became customers. Both Erbudak and Schram had no experience in the health sector and ran the hospital from a business perspective. It is interesting to look at this particular situation, because the hospital became the first fully commercially driven general hospital in The Netherlands. Nothing like this has happened before in Dutch history. Erbudak was a director that got things done, she knew how to make financial deals. As soon as she became director, she renegotiated contracts with factories and looked at the level of staffing. After the sale, the hospital made a profit, much sooner than expected (De Zorgkoningin).

It is difficult to say if the general situation of the hospital was better now it was a private commercial company, focusing on money. A couple of years later, Schram, the shareholder behind the hospital passed away in his own hospital. Erbudak, his business partner, who may have been his romantic partner as well, was now in a conflict with one of the biggest Dutch health insurance companies, Achmea, as she denies signing a contract with them. A lot of hospital patients were no longer insured anymore. This was the beginning of the end for the hospital. After the moment that Schram passed away, Erbudak got fired by the board of directors. The hospital was sold to an unknown buyer and continued as MC Slotervaart (Weeda and Wester). This first fully privatised commercial general hospital of The Netherlands went bankrupt in 2018, together with another hospital called the MC IJsselmeerziekenhuizen B.V., both being part of the MC Groep (“MC Groep”). This caused a big crisis in the Dutch health care system. Patients had to be transferred (in the worst conditions) to other hospitals in the region, medical appointments of people got cancelled. And what was the reason behind the bankrupt MC Slotervaart? Due to financial reasons the hospital was not saved by the almighty insurance companies Achema and Zilveren Kruis (De Zorgkoningin). The Rijksoverheid didn’t do anything about this situation (Soetenhorst).

The Dutch healthcare system is semi-privatised, and one could argue that the insurance companies now play the role of the government. This small piece of history is exemplary for how the capitalist market functions in the healthcare sector. It does not matter what happens with the public. It feels as if there is money going around, it works for capitalism, whether this system serves patients remains highly questionable.

In the midst of the financially good, commercial times of the Slotervaartziekenhuis, many Dutch museums, even rijksmusea, were in financial distress. Bankruptcy threatened (Donker). Knowing that the government reduced its subsidies for both the healthcare and arts sector, would it be good to compare these sectors to each other? What does the shift of the economic market mean now the healthcare sector is increasingly privatised? Is this a warning for what is about to happen with the arts and culture sector? Is museum privatisation perhaps the solution?

Private funding

Besides receiving subsidies from a form of government, it is also possible to find other ways to get the financial support. If you have a look at multiple museum websites, you can’t miss the big blown-up logos of the sponsors of the museums. Interesting to see how capitalist companies are financing the arts and culture sector of The Netherlands. How ethical is this way of financing, looking at the three largest financial banks of The Netherlands: ING, Rabobank and ABN Amro (“Triodos …”).

What is the influence of these companies on museums? What is the reason that big financial institutions are injecting money into museums? Other organisations that are common in museum fundings, are: VriendenLoterij and Het Cultuurfonds.

It is difficult to investigate in detail how much money financial institutes as banks donate to cultural institutes on a yearly basis. For arts and culture foundations, (e.g. Het Cultuurfonds and Mondriaan Fonds) it is easier to look into the financial figures. This raises a number of questions for me. Why it is harder to investigate the financial figures of for example ABN Amro bank, Rabobank and ING bank? Is the partnership really because of the importance of the arts and culture sector, or is it more important for the banks themselves? Why so mysterious?

Since the 1950’s companies started collecting art. The main reason for this was to decorate the walls. In modern times companies claim different reasons. Sanne ten Brink, head curator of the ING bank claims that ‘Art encourages the employees to self-reflect.’ Danila Cahen, conservator of the ABN Amro bank collection says ‘Art brings the world into the company.’ Not every company is as reticent as these companies to talk about art collections. The health insurance provider Achmea even says ‘As an insurance company, in these times of austerity, we do not consider it responsible to have an extensive art collection. We don’t think we can justify that to our insurance premium paying customers’.

The ING bank states that the financial support of companies to the arts and culture sector is very important, especially since the governmental art subsidies have been reduced (Sterk and Elferink).

The Dutch newspaper NRC published a list of the biggest private donators to the arts and culture sector in 2022. The 50 biggest donators donated € 282 million in total. That is 25% of what the Rijksoverheid subsidised in the same year (Ribbens).

Philanthropy

Philantrophy, of the Greek word 'philantrōphía'. 'Philo-' meaning loving, fond of, tending to. 'Anthropo-', meaning pertaining to man or human beings. Love relating to human society, a description of the word philanthropy (“Philanthropy”). Philanthropy is the concept of donating money, materials, or labour to an individual or organisation to improve their conditions (“Wat Betekent …”). The privatisation of the Dutch healthcare system is one of the reasons why philanthropy became popular in The Netherlands (Wikipedia-bijdragers).

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lucy Bernholz wrote an article in the Philantrophy, called ‘Confronting Philanthropy’s Uncomfortable Truths’. In this article, Bernholz writes about the influence of governmental and non-governmental organisations on the concept of philanthropy. She explains that philanthropy is a product of the tax and governance structures. Besides, non-profit organisations are often linked to undercapitalised companies, companies that have the most need for governmental subsidies. According to Bernholz, in the USA ‘we underinvest in our shared public systems while we celebrate individual generosity. … By design, the nonprofit world is supposed to provide either an alternative to or a bolster for public programs and investments.’ Bernholz states that non-profit and philanthropic organisations are now operating in, and influenced by, the systems of society. ‘Nonprofit and philanthropic organizations that want to address our syndemic crises need to be prepared to take on the societal systems that created them ...’ (Bernholz).

In the previous subchapter ‘Private funding’ I wrote about the sponsors of museums. If you look at the website of Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, for private funding the museum focuses on ‘American Friends’, because of its tax-efficiency due to the King Baudouin Foundation United States (“American …”). The King Baudouin Foundation has its roots in Belgium. According to the website the foundation is ‘serving the public interest and increasing social cohesion’ (“Mission, …”). But what does ‘tax-efficiency’ actually mean?

ANBI is the Dutch abbreviation for 'public benefit institution'. For individuals and organisations, it is fiscally favourable to donate money to an ANBI. Donating individuals may deduct the amount of donation from the income tax. For a donation to a Cultural ANBI, the donating party may even deduct that amount times 1.25. Donating organisations that pay corporate tax may deduct the amount of donation times 1.5 from the corporate tax return. (“Krijg ik …”). This tax benefit structure may also be a way for donors to avoid paying tax (“Vermogenden …”). This raises the question, does the donating party give money to help the museum, or is it because by donating they reduce their tax bills?

In The Netherlands there are approximately 700 private foundations that are helping finance arts and culture projects. A lot of the organisations don’t have an ANBI status, which makes it difficult to see how much money they donate. The non ANBI organisations don’t have to publish financial annual reports, but also don’t receive tax benefits. Look for example at the earlier mentioned banks. Besides foundations there are also individuals and organisations that are donating money directly to the cultural institutions (Ribbens).

Dutch House of Representatives elections of 2023

Recently the Dutch nation elected the new cabinet. The winner was the right-wing party called, PVV . The party is led by Geert Wilders. The concerns in the public sector are rising, especially people within the arts and culture sector are worried about this situation. What will (another) right wing party mean for the arts and culture industries in The Netherlands? What will happen with the funding of museums?

In November 2023 the Dutch newspaper NRC published an article about Wilders’ PVV points of view to the cultural sector. The article states that (public) museums are for 50% dependent on government subsidies. This is also why Vera Carasso, director of the Museumvereniging, expressed her concerns about this political event (Santen). Even though PVV states the following information on their website: ‘The PVV loves the Netherlands. We are proud of our culture, identity, and traditions. We must therefore preserve them. Not erase them.’ it also says: ‘PVV wants for you: Ending arts and culture subsidies’ (“Verkiezingsprogramma”). These are some worrying words when we look at the possible future of the arts and culture sector of The Netherlands.
As a result, the Museumvereniging published the following statement: ‘Museums are for all the citizens. It does not matter what party you vote for, and it does not matter where you were born. Arts and heritage are meant for connecting and uniting people.’ (Museumvereniging | LinkedIn). Suzanne Swarts of museum Voorlinden comments: ‘Many museums are dependent on the infusion of money (government subsidies) - their elixir of life, but what would happen if this financial subsidy simply stopped? What would happen to a museum’s self-sufficiency? How will museums survive? This is not bad perse, but leadership is important in these scenarios. There will be stronger and weaker museums.’ (Appendix).

According to Eva Rovers (cultural historian), the retreating government is one of the reasons why private museums are opening up: “Before World War II, art subsidies were few and far between. Wealthy collectors set up museums for modern art out of a kind of exaltation spirit. You saw this at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and the Kröller-Müller Museum. Private patronage is making a comeback because of the retreating government. In that sense, we are back to the last century.” (Eikelenboom and Keunen). Suzanne Swarts describing one of the differences between public and private funded museums: “If we (museum Voorlinden) believe in something, we do it. We decide what to do, but also what not to do. In government-subsidised museums, there are many conditions for exhibitions. … You will receive money, but you have to justify the decisions you make. One example is that many museums are making their collections digital. This is a government wish, conceived during the corona pandemic.” (Appendix)

Chris Dercon is the head of the public cultural establishment Réunion des musées nationaux Grand Palais (RMN-GP). RMN-Grand Palais In the book Museum of the future: now what? (2021) Dercon talks about public spaces, ‘What will we do with all these objects tomorrow? The future of museums requires us to think about the status of acquisitions. This is indeed why some people are pleased to see increasing numbers of private foundations-even with state support. Indeed, future-proofing should be part of any new definition of museums. And what I have said is true for all museums. It is vital to develop the notion of the “future,” far more so than “innovation.” … We must think of all futures together, ask questions that Google cannot answer, to seek out the future that we want to build collectively, not now as an end in itself, but as a future in the service of the present.’ (Dercon)

‘In The Netherlands, are public-funded museums still feasible at a time that emphasises the importance of market forces?’ I think it is good to look at this question from different perspectives. From a financial perspective I would say, no, in Dutch capitalist society, with the government withdrawing funding, it is important for institutions to be individually financially strong. I think institutions should look after themselves. In The Netherlands, only a hand full of people visit museums. Why don’t the people that want to visit museums pay for the museums? Quid pro quo (“quid …”).

From societal perspective, the answer might be different. One could argue that the ongoing public funding ensures the existence of museums in society. The market mechanism should not decide the existence of museums, because museums are fundamental in society. Museums can help us think about civilisation, about human existence. Museums can be containers of knowledge, culture. Places of exchange. Museums can connect people, can educate us, for instance through art. We must protect the qualities of society and political opinions. Museums are a safe space for people.

Arts and culture and healthcare started as non-profit sectors, but especially since the healthcare has been privatised in The Netherlands from the early 2000’s, it is interesting to compare them. Knowing this and looking into my research of museum funding in The Netherlands, I now have a further question: How can we ensure that museums continue to exist as a part of society in the future?

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Santen, Hester van. “Cultuursector Vreest Kaalslag Na Verkiezingswinst PVV.” NRC, 24 Nov. 2023, www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2023/11/24/cultuursector-vreest-kaalslag-na-verkiezingswinst-pvv-a4182205.

Soetenhorst, Bas. “Slotervaartziekenhuis Stond Machteloos Tegenover Zilveren Kruis.” Het Parool, 4 Mar. 2020, www.parool.nl/amsterdam
/slotervaartziekenhuis-stond-machteloos-tegenover-zilveren-kruis~bb304239.

Sterk, Annemarie, and Eva Oude Elferink. “Dit Zijn De Kunstcollecties Van ABN, Akzo En ING.” NRC, 1 July 2016, www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/05/07/kunst-op-je-werk-wat-doet-dat-er-eigenlijk-toe-a1496698.

“Subsidie Meerjarenbeleidsplan Kunst En Cultuur 2025 - 2028 Categorie B Aanvragen.” Gemeente Den Haag, 15 Feb. 2024, www.denhaag.nl/nl/subsidies/subsidie-meerjarenbeleidsplan-kunst-en-cultuur-2025-2028-categorie-b-aanvragen.

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/bezoek/ticketprijzen.

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This is the elaboration of the interview that took place
on 12 February 2024.

Suzanne Swarts is the director of museum Voorlinden.

Joop van Caldenborgh (Den Haag, 1940) comes from an ordinary family. By the age of 16, with the salary of his newspaper round, he bought his first piece of art. In 1970 van Caldenborgh established Caldic, a chemical trading company in the Rotterdam harbour. Over the years Van Caldenborgh collected art works, which he loved to share with friends, family members and colleagues.

Around 2005, Suzanne Swarts (Ede, 1979) got in contact with Van Caldenborgh about an internship at the art collection. How Suzanne described it: ‘… een kijkje in de keuken nemen van de kunstcollectie’, having an inside look at the art collection. Around that time the art collection already contained art works by for example Damien Hirst and Schoonhoven. Suzanne told me that in the years since, she mainly worked on projects such as art at businesses set up, in for example Vancouver and a hospital in Ghana.

In 2011 van Caldenborgh and Swarts curated the exhibition called ‘I Promise to love you’ in the Rotterdam based Kunsthal. The exhibition even broke the record of Kunsthal visitors of that time. This was the moment when Van Caldenborgh and Swarts started talking of a museum of their own. There were conversations with the municipalities of Rotterdam and Den Haag for a spot in the city centres, but these locations were both not suitable.

The Voorlinden estate, including an English style 1920’s mansion, formerly being a KPN office, was for sale. This became the location of the museum. Swarts described it as the perfect location to ‘subconsiously tickle the visitors’ senses’. The museum opened in 2016.

The outer walls of the museum are for 70% made of glass, to reveal the beauty of nature and arts.

Van Caldenborgh donated the museum to Stichting museum Voorlinden just after the founding of the museum. Next to this, there is also the support fund, ‘to serve the museum as a backbone’. The revenue of the museum is made by ticket sale, museum shop, restaurant, house rental and patrons.

Talking about the financial side of museums, Swarts explained that every citizen contributes to subsidising public museums, through the taxes we pay. This also includes people who might not be willing to visit museums.

Swarts tells me that in the last 10 years museums got very popular. ‘It became the new church. Where people used to go to churches for a spiritual experience, people go to museums now.’ If you look at visitors who visit the museum for a particular artist, and they are traveling the world for this, ’you can call it a pilgrimage. Art is a liquidation of life.’

During the interview I asked Swarts what she thinks the big differences are between government funded and private funded museums, knowing that museum Voorlinden is a private museum. Swarts described it as: “If we (museum Voorlinden) believe in something, we do it. We decide what to do, but also not to do. In government-subsidised museums, there are many conditions for exhibitions. … You will receive money, but you have to justify the decisions you make. One example is that many museums are making their collections digital. This is a government wish, conceived during the corona pandemic.”

Looking at last year’s elections of the Dutch House of Representatives I asked Swarts what the influence of the new cabinet could be.

‘Many museums are dependent on the infusion of money (government subsidies) - their elixir of life, but what would happen if this financial subsidy simply stopped? What would happen to a museum’s self-sufficiency? How will museums survive? This is not bad perse, but leadership is important in these scenarios. There will be stronger and weaker museums.’ As from a visitor’s perspective things would change as well. For example, the Museumkaart might stop. ‘Visitors will have to make decisions in what museums they will visit.’

At the end of the interview Swarts tells me about her future perspective of museum Voorlinden: ‘… working more with the landscape, restaurant, music and theatre. It is then about stimulating the senses and taste.’

Concluding the interview with the quote by Wayne Thiebaud, Suzanne Swarts shares:
‘In the shadow all the light happens.’

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Inter is a free and open source font family.
rsms.me/inter/

The information provided here is based on research conducted for the thesis 'The Law of Market Forces in The Netherlands' for the studies BA Graphic Design at the KABK Royal Academy of Art in Den Haag, The Netherlands. The author accepts no responsibility for any incompleteness, errors, or damage caused by the use of the information on this website.

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