NYNKE KOSTER

When Nynke Koster (The Hague, 1986) embarked on her journey at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, she was drawn to the disciplines of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design. Yet, even at the outset, she sensed that her creative vision would transcend the traditional boundaries of furniture-making. "A piece of furniture," she reflected, "is where the ephemeral nature of an interior meets the tangible presence of an object." This sentiment, capturing the intersection of the transient and the permanent, would become a defining element in her work. It’s no surprise, then, that one of Koster’s enduring inspirations is Victor Horta (1861-1947), the pioneering architect of Belgian Art Nouveau. Horta’s influence resonates throughout her work, evident in her preference for organic, irregular forms, the graceful curvature of lines, and the seductive allure of materiality. But more than anything, it’s seen in her quest for a delicate balance between the ornamental and the structural, the decorative and the essential.

In Koster’s early work, this quest materializes in objects that blur the line between design and art, where architectural elements and furniture converge in surprising ways. These pieces occupy a liminal space, neither wholly functional nor purely aesthetic, but something more—a fusion of form and meaning that challenges the viewer to reconsider the role of everyday objects in their environment.

One of the most profound examples of Koster’s ability to reinterpret and recontextualize historical art is found in her 2013 graduation project, centered around the legendary “Porte del Paradiso,” the gilded bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery crafted by Lorenzo Ghiberti between 1425 and 1442. By creating a cast of these iconic doors and reimagining them as a walkable floor ornament, Koster not only altered their physical form but also transformed their conceptual significance. The doors, which once stood as an untouchable gateway to a sacred space, were brought down to earth, literally repositioned underfoot. In doing so, Koster invites us to engage with this masterpiece in a new, more intimate way, challenging the traditional hierarchies between viewer and artwork, sacred and profane, history and the present.

This approach to recontextualization—of literally and figuratively repositioning historical elements—runs through Koster’s work, most notably in her 2014 collection “Elements of Time.” This series of tactile, functional objects—including a Baroque ceiling, a Jugendstil corner, and a Neoclassical cassette—are all casts of architectural details from monumental buildings across different centuries. By placing these elements side by side, Koster creates a dialogue between different eras, collapsing time into a single, coherent line. The cold, rigid forms of architecture are softened by the use of colorful rubber, creating an intense interplay between material and form. Here, Koster’s work is not just about preserving the past but about giving it a new place in our contemporary world, inviting us to interact with it in fresh, unexpected ways.

Koster’s fascination with history, and its enduring presence in our collective memory, is a thread that runs through her entire body of work. In 2018, this fascination took form in “Khepri,” a sculpture created for the outdoor exhibition “Beelden in Leiden.” Inspired by an ancient scarab amulet from the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Koster reinterpreted this symbol of rebirth and protection in a modern context, a work that resonated deeply with the public and earned her the Public’s Choice Award.

The following year, this same reverence for history informed her commission for the city of Delft, where she was asked to create a public artwork reflecting on the Dutch Golden Age. The result was “Echo,” a permanent installation in the city center, near the Old Church. This 6.5-meter concrete disc encapsulates the contradictions of the Golden Age—a time of great exploration and artistic achievement, a lot of proverty, the beginning of the slave trade and the arrival of new immigrants with their own knowledge and cultures. Within “Echo,” Koster depicted iconic Delft imagery, such as Fabritius’s “The Goldfinch” and Vermeer’s reflections, alongside representations of slavery. By placing these elements side by side without passing judgment, Koster invites us to reflect on the complexities of history, reminding us that our past is neither simple nor monolithic but a tapestry of intertwined stories, each deserving of recognition.