A brown book with the title 'UNPOPULISM' in black and white text on the cover, casting a shadow on a white background.

Unpopulism
The disconnect of Dutch politics in 74 objects.

An incredible collection of merchandise from political parties of The Netherlands housed at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, formed the centre of Rutger’s focus for the graduation project Unpopulism. The collection features a pile of useful and useless stuff generated by a strive for power in various election periods in The Netherlands. Exactly seventy four were chosen by Rutger from this myriad of items in an editing process that, through careful considerations, birthed its selection criteria. The publication Unpopulism brings together these items in a catalogue format, juxtaposing them to each other in a growing narrative. Through a meticulous editing process a sequence of objects is created by Rutger, the reader is taken through emotions by each turn of page, one will laugh out loud, gasp, shake their heads and the most prevailing emotion — become silent with astonishment.

The publications is carefully edited and designed with a generous index and supplementary material for the reader to immerse themselves in the intricacies of political parties in The Netherlands. A really monumental publication of a special collection brought to life in this catalogue!

- Elisabeth Klement

Printed and bound by Libertas Pascal in Utrecht. Die-cut board (300 gsm) cover and Biotop (140 gsm) with Swiss binding. Unpopulism is a graduation project mentored by Elisabeth Klement and Felix Salut at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2024.

Edition of 40.

2024

Stack of brown paper with label 'UNPOPULISM' in black text.
Open booklet featuring a white vintage corded telephone on a black background with the title "UNPOPULISM" and a subtitle about Dutch politics. The left page is plain dark brown.
Open booklet showing a white belt with a logo and a white G-string with text and logo.
Open book showing a yellow wool beanie hat with a blue pom-pom and the word "PIM" repeated three times, and a white T-shirt with Dutch text "Overal homo kunnen zijn" written in blue and red letters.
Open book with a baby bib on the left page and a caution label in Dutch on the right page.
Open book showing two pictures: on the left, two green balls with googly eyes, and on the right, a fuzzy, colorful pen with googly eyes and a face.
Open book showing a white baby onesie with text in Dutch and a pacifier graphic on the left page and a yellow sticker with a caricature of a man on the right page.
Open booklet showing a green and white sticker with 'D66 DEMOCRATEN' and Dutch text 'Niet te flauw', and a jar of brown spread labeled 'Groninger Mosterd' with a black lid.
A model truck with a red cab and white trailer displaying the website stemrita.nl and an image of a smiling woman.
Open book with an index of objects page, listing items such as clothes pin, underwear, ice scraper, bib, condom, webcam cover, and others, partially shadowed by sunlight.
A magazine page with the headline "UNPOPULISM" and the subtitle "The disconnect of Dutch politics in 74 objects". It features an image of a vintage telephone with a coiled cord on a black background.