Zeeuws Museum x Das Leben am Haverkamp
This project is part of Zeeuws Museum x Das Leben am Haverkamp. This site specific exhibition is on show until 09.06.2019 in Zeeuws Museum.
In the early Summer of 2017, the Zeeuws Museum, as instructed by Das Leben am Haverkamp, invites 40 visitors to give a description of 40 randomly selected objects of the museum’s collection out of storage. Objects in the storage rooms are anonymous, without judgment, without a story. It is that anonymity that appeals to the imagination. The subjective descriptions of regional costume, jewellery and household goods induced us to develop a new collection without ever having seen the objects described.
With this method and Das Leben am Haverkamp aims to create a bridge between past and future, between knowing and fantasizing, between the image of the self and that of the other.
Read a review by Robin Barry on MISTER MOTLEY about the project here (article only availible in Dutch).
transcriptions
object 5, visitor 8
I see .. something of which I .. think they are .. aprons .. ehm ... I can imagine that you eh need a new apron every day ehm but you don't want to clean your complete dress and .. I think that it's something to strap on but you could also kee .. hang it in front of the windows .. it must be washed again and it is marked with the Zeeland label and that looks very similar to a label eh ... ehm .. as used in a retirement home to retrace it from the laundry .. there's not much more I can say about it.
object 6, visitor 5
Hmm this has got ... a very nice colour ehm .. the material is not clear to me .. it makes me think about religion but I have no idea .. who could have worn this uhm so therefore it fascinates me a lot because I have not seen this before uhm I think it could be for someone with a certain function uhm and again I think the colours are very beautiful eh ehm ... if it is an old piece I would not dare say it also has a rather eh .. too much it is too heavily decorated uh .. I would have preferred it to be somewhat more plain .. uhm .. and again I have .. not seen anything similar but I do think that it has to do with hm religion and church .. that's it.
object 7, visitor 6
They are two dark coloured objects that belong to each other ... they are made of a particular material ... I really cannot speculate as to its function .. it looks old with lots of nice little details .. it looks handcrafted to me .. ehm it seems to me like like something that is no longer worn or used today because I do not know whether it should be worn or used ... hmm ... yeah.
object 10, visitor 9
Yes I see a piece of clothing .. uhm .. yeah it's been made with some lace with with buttons also for a top I think it's for a woman .. is meant to be as I see it .. it's white it's a bit .. old fashioned ... although nowadays lace is being used again as I just saw in the shops ... and ehm .. yes I don't really think eh that it doesn't look sweet but eh yes for a thing from the time of the Middle Ages or a few hundred years ago maybe only one hundred years ago .. that it was used I think and eh as an undergarment for for women .. and .. yes.
object 11, visitor 10
It's small you keep it in your hand and it's on something .. it's uh ... actually a kind of bird .. but with a human head .. it has ..ts .. you can also have in print in all kinds of vases that you among others are placed on my grandmother's cupboard ... in the colours purple and white light blue ... and the most striking must be the mask on the head .. because it's black instead of a cheerful colour.
object 13, visitor 16
Object thirteen I see eh a wooden board with ridges ... and a ... round ... wooden ... rod ... with the ridges in the middle and on both sides a .. two smooth extremities.
object 18, visitor 17
Cheerfulness ... is the first thing eh that strikes me .. playfulness .. I can see a very .. happy blonde little girl .. in her warm bonnet ... eh .. yes that I think in the harsh .. winter times and ... well long gone times haha I think ... would therefore make her very happy when wearing this bonnet.
object 21, visitor 24
They're meant for your feet ... they're very handy .. they remind me of my father who also had a pair and he kept them in a pouch .. and you could fold them ... it did make a difference in the morning because on a concrete floor like that .. you then ... would not be having any cold feet ... they're made of leather ... and they're very handy and can also be used for traveling.
object 26, visitor 25
Ehm ... yes ... you don't see this as much anymore ... maybe that eh .. at the time of grandfather and grandmother .. they were then worn .... and .. my mother never wears such a thing ... it is kind of special .. to wear I think too .... strangely coloured fabric ... with a collar ... no buttons no nothing attached ... but really special.
object 29, visitor 32
Yes it does look like something you will not encounter in a museum every day .. it's far more likely to be something for at home ... and if it's old or not I do not know, it could just as well be bought directly from IKEA now.
object 33, visitor 36
Yes this reminds me a lot of beautiful .. photos ... of a famous Dutch photographer .. and that in reality is really no more than just a plastic bag over ... the head of a girl and what makes the hood makes you think very nice very beautiful you look through it's almost like lacework.
object 36, visitor 35
First impression nice large silver .. buttons .. with a diameter of ten centimetres I think think of the regional costume .. uh .. this object .. will in my opinion be worn on the hip .. as a decoration .. very beautiful.
object 38, visitor 37
I see something that seen from above has the shape .. of the cover of an old forty-five rpm record, that is about the size .. but it's thick .. it's about two inches in height I think .. it also has two .. contrasting shapes, the outside is square in form like that cover of that forty-five rpm record .. but in there on a deeper level are two circles ... in the middle .. that is in that second circle .. seems to be a ceramic image .. in which .. insignia are included .. underneath a crown.
object 39, visitor 38
This is a very special object, I actually have no idea what it represents .. it seems eh it is semi-circular kind of silver-coloured .. ehm .. maybe a modern camera if I would be an artist .. but .. it could also still be something of a perfume-like bottle .. ehm .. and using a lot of imagination it could also be a windbreak for at sea, the beach.
object 40, visitor 39
A cloak, an .. old-fashioned hoodie as you can imagine .. a burka .. hihi .. look, that's what we looked like in the past and now everyone considers eh that to be a problem .. maybe it is just the facial cover that is lacking here but maybe there was some of that too a veil I can see something .. what I very much recognise nowadays on the street and what we too used to have here .. concealing, you can place a whole bomb belt under underneath .. but I don't think they had those at that time haha.
Books are availible for € 20 at
– Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
– Page Not Found, The Hague
– Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
– Billytown, The Hague
– Stroom, The Hague
– Gemeentemuseum, The Hague
– De Koperen Tuin, Goes
– Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg
Many thanks to the Zeeuws Museum team and its visitors. Special thanks to Karina Leijnse, Rinus Roepman, Anouk van Klaveren, Christa van der Meer and Dewi Bekker.
Campaign & book design by Studio Lennarts & de Bruijn
Photography opening event by Presstigieuxx
Photography museum by Pim Top
Photography objects by Anda van Riet, Mieke Wijnen & Janne van Gilst
Photography book by Janne van Gilst