PROJECTS
Small intimate paper-cuts
Commissions come in all shapes and sizes. Additionally, the emotional teneur can vary quite a lot. Recently I’ve made two small paper-cuts that have served as memorials to the recently deceased: One as a pall accessory —the pall being the cloth that lays on a coffin at a funeral service—
Installation “Black Eden” at M. Museum
My immersive installation “Black Eden” is open in the pop-up annex of M. Museum, in Almere. Black Eden which alternatively could be called “Carbon Garden”, is about cognitive dissonance in a scorched paradise. It’s a comment on human self image and ecology. Museum M. is making its mark by orienting
Exhibit Designs for a Medieval Castle
From the category “things I forgot to post”: looking back on some great drawings and models from a commissioned remodel-concept for a medieval castle from 2 years back. Kasteel Ammersoyen is on the edge of Gelderland near Den Bosch, and is now preserved as a museum. Within the portfolio of
Paper-cut “rosette” cantos from Dante’s Inferno
As a young man I lived in Rome. I learned Italian as one would —being before the time that speaking English was self-evident— and immersed myself in the glories of Rome: baroque architecture, ancient marbles, Carolingian mozaics, etc. But the thing that has endured with me the most is the
Bronze door handles for North Holland Archive
I’ve been doing quite a lot for the North Holland Archives the last couple of years (see: Women in the Resistance and Johan Enschede: Printer of Value). But I hadn’t expected to do any sculptural work for them. Yet when they asked if I knew anyone who could upgrade their
Three Paper Cut Commissions
I’ve had three recent paper cut commissions, specifically for horizontal banners celebrating lives: a 50th anniversary, a 50th birthday, and the passing of a lived life. The Anniversary banner combined emblems of a shared life in a matrix of baroque ornament, all framing portraits of the beloved. The Birthday banner
Furniture design concept Dogbone
Dogbone is a furniture design concept that I’ve been working at for a few years. It’s accessible, customizable, and collapsible, and based on real world solutions in the exhibition industry.
Exhibition Women in the Resistance
Design for the exhibition Vrouwen in verzet (Women in the Resistance) at the North Holland Archives in Haarlem.The Noord-Hollands Archief revisits the subject of the role of women in the resistance against Nazi Occupation in the period around World War II. A hitherto neglected subject, Vrouwen in Verzet sets the record
Immersive Labyrinth in Almere
Here is the first part of a two pronged project in Almere, the design of an exhibition space and an invitation to be one of the artists in the exhibition. Almere is a medium large city east of Amsterdam that typifies the engineering prowess of the Dutch: within 40 years
Exploded View Viewers in Monnickendam
Voilá a design for exhibition gadgets from the do-I-know-what-i’m-doing department. . This is for viewer of digital content which will be housed in an in-museum “lookout tower” in the Waterlands Museum & Belltower in Monnickendam, and it’s supposed to look and function like a landscape viewing scope. The content is
Roman wall paintings for “Het verhaal van Nederland”
It’s a bit hors concours but I’ve done some nice set painting again, and the historical series that it was done for has now aired. Het verhaal van Nederland (The Story of the Netherlands) created by the Dutch public broadcaster (yay!) aired early in 2022 and really surprised everyone with it’s
Refugee Family Portraits
Just a little in-between project full of good will: a traveling expo of family portraits taken of refugees in the camps on the Greek island of Lesbos, famous for it’s dire conditions and hope-killing prospects. The exhibit showed in the main municipal library of Amsterdam on the Oosterdok. The dominant
Display case in style of Gothic Scriptorium
Channeling my inner Viollet-le-Duc (the great French champion of the Gothic-revival) I designed these nice display stands modeled after medieval scrivener’s lecterns, or scriptoriums (yes, we struggle with the proper Latin scriptoria). These variations on the display case are for the Noord-Holland Archives in Haarlem, housed in the ancient Gothic
Waterland Museum & Speeltoren
Preparations are underway for the redesign of the Carillon Gallery in the Waterland Museum and Speeltoren in Monnickendam. After an initial trajectory, together with Studio Louter, of making a bid-book and a very succesful fundraising, we have started to fully develop a new permanent exhibition. It tells the story of
First Americans at Museum Volkenkunde
Despite all the precautions due to Covid19, we enjoyed a lovely opening of our most recent project, First Americans at the Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. The exhibition is a contribution to –or answer to – the Pilgrim Year of the city of Leiden, in which the “pilgrim fathers” who
‘Johan Enschedé’ in the North Holland Archives
Finally, together with our partners Studio Louter and North-Holland Archives in Haarlem, we opened the exhibition “Johan Enschedé: Printer of Value” . Since 2015, the North-Holland Archives has aquired the unique and extensive collection frp, the printing house Royal Johan Enschedé. On November 25 a permanent exhibition dedicated to Enschedé
Animation of Historic Harbor receives 50,000 unique visits!
In between all the hard work, we noticed that one of Todd’s Twitter posts had achieved more than 50,000 unique viewers and a lot of positive feedback. What a surprise. Somehow it had hit a chord among fans of Amsterdam history, and it is not hard to see why. The
Kick-off for ‘Hof van Nederland’, in Dordrecht
We are very happy with our newest commission for the Hof van Nederland / Dordrechts Museum. The Hof, or “court”, a former Augustinian monastery, occupies a very special place in Dutch history. You could almost call it the “cradle of Holland” because of two important events there: the first independent
Graphic work for “Mad for Money”
In addition to the architectural design for the exhibition “Mad for Money” in the Tax & Customs Museum, I also worked rather hard on the graphic layer. I wanted to highlight that separately. Together with graphic designer Rob Meerman (formerly from Mannschaft) I did a lot of illustration work for,
A Vision for Ammersoyen Castle
Ammersoyen Castle in the town of Ammersoden is one of the seven castles owned by the foundation Gelderland Landscape and Castles. Of all their properties, Ammersoyen Castle exudes the atmosphere of the Middle Ages the most. After all, it dates from the fourteenth century and has almost stood the test
A Royal Opening in Rotterdam
At the opening of our most recent major project, “Crazy about Money” in the Tax and Customs Museum, we received a very special guest of honor: Her Majesty Queen Máxima. I, Todd, had the opportunity to talk to our queen for a few minutes about the design of the exhibition
“Mad for Money” in the Museum of Taxes and Customs, Rotterdam
“Mad for Money” (Gek op Geld in Dutch) in the Museum of Taxes and Money in Rotterdam is an exhibition about the history of money and the story of our relationship with money. In the design it was precisely the psychological aspect of money that we wanted to emphasize. We
The ‘Story Wharf’ in the Library of Hoogeveen
For the library of Hoogeveen in the Dutch province of Drenthe we’ve come up with a very special product. It’s not a stretch to guess that it’s an exhibit design, something we are indeed proud of. Yet it’s the run-up, the process and the ambitions for the future that make
Harlequin mannequins
We are calling the festive dressing models in this video “Harlequin Mannequins”. But having been originally made in Holland for an exhibition about Carnival where the diamond shape was used as a recurring motif, they also get the Dutch dialect name of “Ruutjesmennekes” (rhombus men). You could have them made of
Revisioning Amsterdam’s Dam Square
In 2016 the Amsterdam daily newspaper Het Parool began a conversation about the city’s central square, the Dam, or “Dam Square” as tour guides call it. Originally built as a proper dam in the Amstel River giving the medieval town a bridge and diverting water into its moats, The Dam
Game of Goose, the LGBT-refugee version
For the exhibition Pride & Prejudice (see below), a show about the creative lives of LGBT refugees in the Netherlands, we conceived and created a board game. It was in the form of a “Game of Goose”, an old European board game similar to Monopoly which propels an avatar along
Dutch Navy Museum Photo App
The Marinemuseum (Museum of the Dutch Navy) in Den Helder wanted to create an application for a “photo souvenir” and a physical installation to accommodate it. The app takes a shot of a visitor against a backdrop and then renders it as a historical poster from the collection of the
Various Paper Cuts
Todd van Hulzen is also a paper cutter, mostly for fun. He makes garlands, rosettes and birthday streamers full of intricate patterns, often portraying animals and people. Here are some examples. See the more recent entries on “Rosettes” of Dante’s Inferno and on various commisioned banners.
New Cabin Designs, Klamath County Oregon
Todd has been intermittently working on his own cabin in Oregon and occasionally posts updates here. Each year seems to be greeted with a new design. The most current update reflects a desire to finish the project quickly and affordably, but also to keep true to the spirit of openness
Royal Joh. Enschedé Collection, Noord-Hollands Archief
In the Gothic galleries of the Janskerk in Haarlem, Todd van Hulzen and Studio Louter are reimagining an exhibition space for the Archive of North Holland to permanently house a great monument of Dutch history and identity: the collection of the state printer Royal Joh. Enschedé. Anyone who has ever
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