Proeftuin Twente: WE Exhibition

The exhibition WIJ (WE) opened on Saturday 22 December 2001 as a prelude to Proeftuin Twente Testbed. During the research for the exhibition Arnoud Holleman spoke with a large group of individuals who were in some way involved in Twente’s culture either professionally, through their own interests or through their background. This summarized ‘oral history’, which was translated into an autonomous text and titled WIJ (WE), united all the contradictions and ambivalences surrounding the subject of regional identity and placed them in a semi-fictional context.

The exhibition, which was held until 6 February 2002, was spread across two locations, the Rijksmuseum Twente (museum) in Enschede and the art society of Diepenheim. Hans Goedkoop held the opening speech.

WE did not present a unified vision of Twente’s identity but, instead, investigated which forces play a part in the desire for a region-specific identity.
In other words it focused on the ‘why’ aspect of the question regarding Twente’s identity. As Arnoud Holleman wrote in his exposition: “On the one hand, Proeftuin Twente fits in with the long-standing tradition of reflecting upon Twente’s identity and regional consciousness and, on the other hand, it conforms to today’s national and international contexts in which the local, the location-bound and the personal are being reevaluated. Consequently the exhibition focuses on who WE are and on the different relationships that WE maintain with our cultural past. If WE ask ourselves who WE are and where WE come from, WE not only focus our attention on our past but also on our environment and ourselves. WE are aware that each assumption about the past and each assumption about our cultural identity is a time-bound fantasy. In each era WE create another image of the past and another image of our relationship to the past. WE make decisions for the future yet, simultaneously; understand the relative nature of our own accuracy. Accordingly WE can also imagine that people in the future will value us, our deeds and our image of the past in a different way than WE ourselves do.???

The complete WIJ (WE) text
Sing Along! The TWENTE’S ANTHEM KARAOKE, played by Guus Janssen

Kunstvereniging Diepenheim (art society of Diepenheim)

The Kunstvereniging Diepenheim investigated the concept of regional identity in a confirming as well as deregulating presentation. In this presentation Arnoud Holleman utilized the objects and drawings of a variety of Twente’s archeological collections. The symbols of Twente’s identity were thus presented in an ambivalent context. The idiom of modern art was mingled with the didactics of archeology and the objects were not only presented at eye level but also at stomach level and knee level. As a result the presentation gained a type of ‘scale model atmosphere’.

Rijksmuseum Twente (museum), Enschede

As a part of the WIJ (WE) exhibition, a number of artistic additions were made to the museum’s existing display of traditional and modern art. Archival images were fitted between the displays in the various rooms featuring past interiors of these same rooms. The photographs were hung on the spot where they had once been taken. In this way it was not only the current collection but also the historical evaluation of the museum’s past collection and the discarded collection of the Oudheidkamer Twente (Twente’s ‘archeology chamber’) that were on display.

For more information: www.proeftuintwente.nl