that provided a set frame for remembering these events. To put it in other words,
there was no 'remediation' of these cultural events that took place in Middel
burg. Without this clear framework of remembering, it was simply not possible to
construct a memory from scratch. The fact that Forum ceased to exist after 1987
does not necessarily mean that its history and its memory will go down as well.
This research has sparked interest to continue to find individuals that could again
form a collective society of Forum. As is argued by Halbwachs, it is necessary to
form some sort of society since 'it is impossible for individuals to remember in
any coherent and persistent fashion outside of their group contexts; these are the
necessary social frameworks of memory.'66
One may conclude that the old Forum from 1977-1987 is death, but a new
Forum and a new history and memory of Forum might come into existence. The
Forum archive, maintained by Maria-Rosa Boezem, will hopefully be catalogued
and digitalised. The available photographs, videos, sound recordings, original
sketches, project proposals and documentation give a sense of the dynamic and
progressive nature of this important episode in Middelburg's cultural history; an
episode that should, and hopefully will, be remembered in the future.
242
The Art of Remembering Forum: the Local Memory
66 Olick, From Collective Memory, 155
