Tomas van den Heuvel, curator of the exhibition Designing the Nation State, recommends a selection of books on nationalism, culture and design.
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Designing the Nation State explores the relationship between design and the nation state for the first time. What is a state, who has the right to establish one, and what designs are needed to do so? How does something become a national symbol, and who gets to decide?
The exhibition Designing the Nation State in on show from 18 April 2026 until 20 September 2026.
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What to listen to? An overview of some of the best podcasts to dive even deeper into the design of the nation state.
National identity is not only imposed from ‘above’. All over the world, people cheer for their national football team, celebrate national holidays, or proudly buy ‘home-grown’ produce.
Nation states appeal to the imagination. They claim ultimate authority, but simultaneously they have something arbitrary about them.
Nation states often use the same set of official symbols, which give the impersonal ‘state’ something tangible and concrete.
Modern nationalism is obsessed with authenticity, that which is real and true.
Nation states are built on the ideal of a united ‘people’. A shared national culture.
Nationalism is always concerned with borders. Those borders can be literal, since a modern state is defined as the highest authority within a certain territory.