The Art of Remembering Forum:
the Local Memory
Eva Langerak
Middelburg as a centre for contemporary art. This probably sounds im
plausible to many. Yet nothing is less true. The Zeeland capital hosted
a unique art event in the seventies and eighties of the last century that
returned annually in the form of performances, workshops and lectures. Organ
ised by one of the key figures of Dutch conceptual art, Marinus Boezem, in col
laboration with his wife Maria-Rosa Boezem, the manifestation enjoyed regional,
national and international popularity and fame. In the glory years of this art man
ifestation, titled 'Forum, between 1978 and 1988, Middelburg conquered a priority
position in the art scene and the city became a location of artistic high society.
In April 1977 the first edition of Forum took place. It was largely coordinated
by Marinus Boezem. The fact that the coordinators did not yet have any interna
tional artistic aspirations in mind, shows from the vague event description that is
published in the manifestation's information booklet, in which the programmed
events were announced:
The listed program, consisting of six lectures with room for discussion, dealt with
developments in the art world and the social issues that accompanied them. The
participating artists and art critics, Eugène Terwindt, Frans Haks, Cor Blok, Hein
Reedijk, Frans Zwartjes, Daan Manneke, Jan Leering, Krijn Giezen and Joop Bel-
jon, all had a well-established career. Forum's unique character already showed
itself in small details before the manifestation had even started. In a letter by
217
Next April, a four-day meeting will be held at the 'Kultureel Centrum de Kuipers
poort' in Middelburg, about and around actual artistic expressions, which could
be an incentive for one's own creativity, or deepen the interest in this topic.
