exhibition 10 jaar Forum: Kunst in de luwte which was part of the overarching
manifestation Boezem and Co in the Spring of 2015, shows one of these reselected
narratives from the past and is thereafter narrated in different media, ranging
from exhibition to a book launch.22
As mentioned before, socio-cultural contexts chiefly shape an individual's
memory. This medial and institutional shaped memory must subsequently be ac
tualized and lived by individuals. Again, the focus lies on the active and living
aspect of this field of study. The process of cultural memory is a vicious circle:
without such actualizations, monuments, rituals, or media an event is nothing
but dead material, failing to have any impact in societies and thus unable to trig
ger memories. This thought is important to keep in mind when scrutinizing Fo
rum's part in cultural memory.
Middelburg and the artistic climate in the 1970's
Piet van Daalen
One may assume that at the start of the 1970s, Middelburg already found itself
in a pool of artistic aspiration. Especially when Piet van Daalen, a respected art
historian specialized in nineteenth-century Dutch sculpture, became director of
the Zeeuws Museum in Middelburg. In Zeeland he was known as an erudite and
extravagant man from the city who stubbornly tried to tie progressive art forms
to local themes. Within the sphere of the international art world, Piet van Daalen
was respected for his eccentric curatorial work and his outsider character. He is
remembered for his share in the emergence of works by Joseph Beuys, Marcel
Broodthaers, Ben d'Armagnac and Gerrit Dekker.23 In addition, Van Daalen im
agined himself to create and generate ideas about what the museum of the 21st
century should look like. According to him, this type of museum would not gen
erate the museum visitor as a consumer, but as an active participant. Subsequent-
Eva Langerak
225
22 Boezem and Co. De Stad als Podium. Stichting Beeldende Kunst Middelbug De Vleeshal.
http://vleeshal.nl/nl/publieksprogramma/boezem-co-de-stad-als-podium (document accessed
June 27, 2020).
23 Leen Bedaux (ed.), Koen Brams, Antje von Graevenitz, Maria Gilissen, Anna Hakkens, Clau-
dine Hellweg, Nico Out, Onvoltooid verleden tijdMiddelburg jaren zeventig. De relatie van
het Zeeuws Museum met vernieuwende kunstenaars als Marcel Broodthaers, Joseph Beuys,
Ben d'Armagnac en Gerrit Dekker liep via de legendarische eerste museumdirecteur Piet van
Daalen. Middelburg: Zeeuws Museum, 2012, 13.
