tation.52 The definition of the past that the organisation of Forum constructed is
theoretically suitable to be transported into shared cultural knowledge and mem
ory by successive generations in 'vehicles of memory. That is, in books, films,
exhibitions and other medial forms.53
Taking into account this argument of the importance of intermediality in the
creation of cultural and collective memory, one would expect the memory of Fo
rum to remain vivid, since the memory had been spread in information booklets,
evaluation booklets, newspaper articles, the book of 1994 and the exhibition in
2015. However, the exhibition as well as the information and evaluation booklets,
together with the retrospect book of 1994, were largely selected and curated by
Maria-Rosa Boezem, who belongs to a very specific social group within Forum as
coordinator. The products of the different media therefore become representa
tions of the organisation's cultural and collective memory, as opposed to a memo
ry that is shared and created within and through multiple individuals.
When we look at the creation of a Forum memory from a local perspective, for
example in the online text of Marinus Boezem on 'Encyclopedie van Zeeland, we
detect only a relatively small paragraph that deals with Marinus' and Maria-Rosa's
Forum. Titled as 'Work with women and daughter' the paragraph gets an almost
sexist connotation. In that same paragraph a link is made between Forum and
The Syndrome of Stendhal, a project that Marinus Boezem realized together with
his daughter Natasja Boezem.54 When I submitted and discussed this piece with
Maria-Rosa, she told me that she found this link completely arbitrary.55
In addition, when taking into account Erll's theory about the meaning and im
portance of 'premediation, it becomes clear that Forum lacked this premeditated
schema for remembering artistic manifestations of this kind. Middelburg's lack
of preceding cultural events, and Forum's unique character might have partly
blocked the process of the creation of a cultural memory. This argument, though
based on assumptions, seems to also apply to Nieuwe Muziek and Podio delMon-
do per l'Arte. Though meant as events worth remembering, they lacked the pre-
cut framework of remembering.56
Eva Langerak
237
52 Exhibition catalogue 10 years of Forum, art from beyond the fringe, 11-04-2015 until 25-05-2015.
53 Green, Individual Remembering and 'Collective Memory, 36-37
54 https://encyclopedievanzeeland.nl/Marinus_van_den_Boezem (document accessed Juli 7, 2020).
55 Personal correspondence with Maria-Rosa Boezem.
56 Erll, Literature, Film and the mediality of cultural memory, 392-393.
