This activity took place on:
Monday 27 Oct ’14
Johannes Vermeer Award 2014 goes to Irma Boom
On October 27th, Irma Boom received the Johannes Vermeer Award, the Dutch state prize for the arts, from the Netherlands’ Minister for Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker. The jury’s decision was unanimous, with Boom chosen on account of her unparalleled achievements in the field of graphic design.
The jury praised Irma Boom for her artistically striking and content-led approach to book design. In this digital age, her experiments in print push the limits and extend the possibilities of the physical book. Her resulting designs enrich the format through their form and content structure. Whether large or small, they are invariably art objects tempting viewers to read and marvel at their pages.
On the occassion of the award the Boekman Foundation published the publication Irma Boom: Autonomously Assigned.
The Johannes Vermeer Award is the Dutch state prize for the arts. The winner receives 100,000 euros to spend on a special project in his or her field. The Dutch government established the award in 2009 to honour and encourage exceptional artistic talent. The prize may be awarded to an artist working in the Netherlands in any artistic discipline. Past winners include opera director Pierre Audi, filmmaker and writer Alex van Warmerdam, photographer Erwin Olaf, artist Marlene Dumas and architect Rem Koolhaas.
The Boekman Foundation is organizer of the prize. See for more information the Johannes Vermeer Award website.