During Dutch Design Week (DDW) 2015, the Van Abbemuseum and Design Academy organise the exhibition Thing Nothing.

In Thing Nothing Design Academy Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum explore the value of the physical object in a de-materializing world. The exhibition looks at the way design, in dealing with actual materials, shapes and production processes, can also script the intangible qualities of the material world. Over the years, the academy has encouraged students to look beyond the material properties of things, and to search for a presence that Taoists might describe as ‘nothingness’: the space in and around the object. As virtual space becomes an integral part of our daily environment, designers venture more and more into this world of the unseen, the unspoken, the unmade.

Thing Nothing is the third exhibition in which Design Academy Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum collaborate. The first, Self Unself was sparked by the unselfish inclination of present day designers. The second, Sense Nonsense embraced the irrational as a creative force. Together with Thing Nothing they form a trilogy about new positions in design.

vanabbemuseum.nl