Conclusion: Creating a 'working' Forum memory
Although Forum does not seem to be included in the cultural memory of Middel
burg, this does not necessarily mean that its history will be lost. According to the
idea of 'memohistory, a term coined by a camp of scholars in the field of memory
studies, history should be understood 'as an active process of meaning-making
through time, the ongoing work of reconstructive imagination.'64 This means that
by dusting up the largely forgotten history of Forum and letting it circulate in
different media, it could theoretically still become a part of Middelburgian (art)
history. One should not forget that memory is framed in the present as much as
in the past, which makes it variable rather than a stiff given.65
Yet, the direct remembrance of Forum in the present day is quite disappoint
ing. The plausible reasons that this research has provided can be best summarized
in a number of reasons. Firstly, the collective context of Forum has only shaped
the 'collective' memories of the people that were directly and repeatedly involved
with Forum, which would be the organisers of Forum. Secondly, the image of
Forum that was spread in different media had drastically decreased after its final
manifestation in 1987. As can be read in the interviews, none of the interviewees
seems to actively remember how or if Forum was represented in the national
press. Other external factors like the book Forum 1977-1987 seems to have had
little impact as well, especially given the fact that a small amount of the books
have actually been sold. In addition, the biggest part of Forum's media, which is
its own archive, has not been archived, documented or catalogued and is thus not
available to the public. Without accessibility, these different media cannot be used
by a society to reselect narratives from the past and thus create a 'working' mem
ory that is still in motion and constantly repeated. Thirdly, places in Middelburg
that have served as a stage or component for artistic workshops have not been
given the status of historical sites of memory, or lieux de mémoire. In addition, the
non-local participants have not often returned to Middelburg, which of course
contributes to the fact that these places in Middelburg cannot gain the status
of sites of memory. Fourthly, if we compare the memory of Forum to the mem
ory of Nieuwe Muziek or Podio del Mondo per l'Arte, we see that none of those
initiatives has been given the status of long lasting memorial. This might have
something to do with the fact that in Middelburg there were no circulating media
Eva Langerak
241
64 Olick, From Collective Memory, 152.
65 Olick, From Collective Memory, 155.
