Containing Content

Published on the occasion of Aldo Bakker’s solo exhibition ‘Containing Content’ at Looiersgracht 60, this book features four ssays on Bakker’s fascination with ‘pouring vessels’ as well as an interview with the artist. Bakker has the ability to transform such humble, everyday objects – things we often forget to notice. He brings them back into focus and frees them of their primary function in order to present them as indefinable and enigmatic forms. The essayists represented in this volume – Glenn Adamson, Hans den Hartog Jager, Chris Reinewald and Gert Staal – take Bakker’s jugs as their point of departure, but each one moves beyond the objects themselves to discuss his work more generally in the contexts of art, design, literature and philosophy. In relaying these new insights, we hope to contribute to a better understanding – and a wider appreciation – of Bakker’s special oeuvre.

Aldo Bakker (born 1971 in Amersfoort) designs objects that embody a timeless perfection and reveal a profound love for and understanding of both materials and craftsmanship. As a designer, Bakker takes form, rather than function, as his starting point. Having been active in the field of design for over 20 years, he now also teaches at Design Academy Eindhoven. Well received around the world, his work can be found in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Neue Sammlung in Munich, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Zuiderzee Museum in Enkhuizen, and the Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch, as well as in numerous private collections. He has also won several prizes, including the Dutch Design Award in 2009 and the Wallpaper* Design Award in 2011.