Pressing matter

Netherlands

Pressing Matter is a long-term research initiative that explores how ‘colonial objects’ in museums can serve as catalysts for societal reconciliation. It addresses the contested nature of these objects—shaped by histories of violence, extraction, and displacement—and investigates new models of ownership, value, and return that center justice, equity, and repair.

Design Challenge
Develop a logo and visual identity system that reflects the urgency of the project and its entanglement with history, power, and restitution. The identity needed to be adaptable across platforms—print, digital, and exhibitions—while embodying the pressure of the colonial past on the present.

History pressing into the present
The visual identity is anchored in the tension between time and geography. By connecting former Dutch colonies across a global map—Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Malacca, South Africa, Suriname, Brazil, and more—a web of entangled histories emerges, with the Netherlands as a pivot point. This networked form not only visualizes colonial reach but also renders visible the persistent folds of history still shaping cultural institutions today.

Approach
The design avoids neutral aesthetics. Instead, it embraces complexity: layered forms, intersecting lines, and cartographic gestures suggest both fragmentation and connection. The logo nods to archival materiality—documents, tags, labels—while the broader visual system evokes movement and tension, mirroring the project’s push toward structural change in museums.