concerned with the integration of art in the landscape as well as in architecture,
with the dialogue of people about their history. Baumgarten takes it as point of
departure that his work is about solutions for the senses and the mind, as op
posed to formal vanities that only serve the market.37 A more practical example
is the work of Dorothee von Windheim, who uses pieces of plaster from city
walls, which she thereafter incorporates into paintings or stored boxes. During
Sculpture/Architecture (1980), von Windheim removed a piece of Middelburg
plasterwork in the Korte Geere, which was exhibited in the Kuiperspoort and
thereafter destroyed as means of performance art.38
An international and collaborative character
Another significant and rather logical element of Forum's importance is the wide
range of artists with an international or promising career that travelled to Middel
burg to teach others about their working manner, expand their artistic network,
and engage in the exchange of ideas. This objective is already expressed in 1985 by
Ad van Aert who states that:
Van Aert also mentions invited artists like Alice Aycock, Gilberto Zorio, Francois
Morellet, Abramovic Ulay, Lawrence Weiner and Daniel Buren. According
to Van Aert 'these names indicate the ambitious and professional approach of
Forum.
Forum's importance also comes back in its collaborations with bigger institu
tions like De Appel, Van Abbe Museum, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and
Stichting Corps de Garde. A great example of this collaboration is the art project
The Peoplemobile by the American artist and landscape architect Vito Accon-
232
The Art of Remembering Forum: the Local Memory
in five years the Middelburg workshops have grown into an important archi
tectural event, namely a creative confrontation with an artificially old city. The
Middelburg case, no matter how judged, works stimulating on artists and ar
chitects from around the world, including Francois Morellet, Lawrence Weiner,
Daniel Buren.39
37 Lothar Baumgarten in evaluation booklet Forum en Scène 1984.
38 Exhibition catalogue 10 years of Forum, art from beyond the fringe, 11-04-2015 until 25-05-2015.
39 Ad van Aert in evaluation booklet Forum en Scène 1984.
