A place for experimentation beyond the fringe
Forum did not aim to advocate itself as a new form of art, or a group with a man
ifesto. On the contrary, they have been profoundly involved with the interface
between the visual arts and other art forms such as dance, theatre, movement,
music, design, sculpture, audio-visual arts and architecture. The manifestation
acted as a bridge, a mediator that connected the participating artists from dif
ferent disciplines. Instead of creating a new artistic movement or group, Forum
offered a place for experimentation, discussion and development. As Maria-Rosa
Boezem stated in the interview published in Forum: Kunst in de luwte, the suc
cess formula of Forum arose from the remote environment in which the artists
were not afraid to experiment. Never were there any art bigwigs breathing down
the artists' necks. In addition, there was no one-way traffic in which the artist is
passively admired by the public.60 On the contrary, Forum provided the artists,
as well as the public, a voice with which the interaction in lectures, discussions
and workshops was stimulated and deepened. The intensity of the workshops
and the loads of information, squeezed into just a couple of days per manifesta
tion, as might be inferred from letters to Maria-Rosa Boezem, indicate a success
ful experiment that was only at the beginning of its success. The organisation of
Forum attempted to meet the demands of the artists, even if they exceeded the
established boundaries. The goal was to give artists the ultimate artistic freedom
to express their ideas and embark on experiments. This freedom gave them the
opportunity to experiment with places in the city of Middelburg. This freedom
of location was in particular interesting and necessary for Luciano Fabro, who
saw location as a component of the work itself. He justified the importance of
location by saying that 'works of art with several meanings or levels of meaning
will undergo a change of content, of this meaning, whenever you relocate them.'61
Fabro's use of the word 'meaning' can be best understood as 'interpretation.
This interpretation thus shifted whenever the location and interior context of
the work changed. In the documentary of Forum 1987 we see Fabro hoisting up
his works of art in the Kloostergangen, together with the support of the Forum
Eva Langerak
239
60 Maria-Rosa Boezem and Marinus Boezem, 'Work and Enjoyment, Nostalgia and Anger, Inter
viewed by Andreas Oosthoek, Forum 1977-1987: Explorations of Art from beyond the Fringe,
18-19.
61 Luciano Fabro, Luciano Fabro talks to Jole de Sanne. In: Maria-Rosa Boezem and Philip
Peeters (eds), Forum 1977-1987: Explorations of Art from beyond the Fringe. Liempde: Kempen,
1994, 353.
