instalation

What do I want to make?

What I want to map (archiving, Rizome  that is a philosophy / technique) is the information that exists about the Dutch East Indies between 1890 - 1945. I want to do this through objects, music, martial arts ect. (untouchable objects become symbolic). In this way you get a representation of time, according to facts. For this I want to use different sources such as: individuals (interviews), books, museums and photos.

Why do I want to make it?

I’ve chosen this project because it’s a subject that’s close to me and that I am very interested in. In the past year I have done a lot of research, with all this knowledge I have created a renewed look at the colonization, with a broader eye, and I have a better understanding for different points such as slavery, why Indo’s came to live in the Netherlands and how the Netherlands deals with it.
What I want to create is that the visitor / participant are informed in such a way, from everyone's perspective (western, indos, Indonesians), so that the visitor / participant can form their own opinion about this time. In my work I don’t want to portray the story of one individual, but rather the objective story of all groups. In this way I expect that the visitors / participants all gather their own knowledge and thus can form their own opinion.

How I see my project:

The work in the space / place / piece of ground is fenced off with archaeologist’s tape. (white / red) There is one entrance that will also serve as an exit. Before entering the room, the visitor / participant must wear a vest and/or a helmet, an archaeologist's brush and a researchers booklet. (more about this book further in the document) With the outfit and booklet I want to give the visitor / participant the feeling that they are really diving into the past and have to dig up the history I give them. As a visitor / participant you will have to wipe sand away with the brush to make the objects clearly visible. I will also have a function as the ‘crew’ and help people where necessary (I am going to think about this in more depth.)

inspiration: photo Hirst, photo archaeologists tape

What does the work look like?

In the space between the archaeologists tape I see tables where on the surface solid objects / symbolism are hidden.
Solid because: because the objects / symbolism are fact’s and this is therefore fixed in history

But after I made the sketch of the structure, I can also imagine that the installation is set on the ground.

Photo: sketch of the project

Questions for myself about the work:
- What color are the objects?
- Do they have to be in a color?
- Is the scale fixed or out of ‘normal’ scale?
- What does scale mean in my work?
- Is there a hierarchy in the work?
- Is that bad yes, no? why?


What is the researchers booklet:

The objects that will be exhibited in my work are also displayed in a booklet so that the viewer can search interactively for the objects and find them back in his booklet. In the booklet a meaning will be linked to each object, so that the viewer, just like a real archaeologist, can find out the meaning of the found object.

I will find the objects through various sources: Individuals (interviews *), books, museums and photos
* = I also want to include the interviews in the booklet, but I am not sure yet how I want to do this.

Questions for me:
- Are there years included with the objects / symbolism?
- Can the work be seen as a time line?
- How much explanation is there of an object?
- Is there room to add things? As an initiative for the visitor / participant?
 
Other ideas:

Because I am focused on the facts, I wonder whether I should put more focus on the politically side? And what would the value of this be?

An idea to make it more politically oriented, I thought of 3 tables in which various fixed objects were also cast.
The tables are then classified by:
- Western
- Indo
- Indonesians
In this way I want to display the different classes of this time. So how well the Westerners lived in contrast to the Indonesians.

Another set-up of this idea is also built with three (or two) tables in which different fixed objects are cast.
However, with this setup, each table would represent a certain period:
- The time before colonization.
(I have a lot of doubts about this because it may differ too far from the timeline I will focus on with my project)
- The time of colonization.
On this table would be characteristic objects displayed for this time, for both the Western, the Indo’s and the Indonesians. In this way it would be easier to display the connection between these groups during this time.
- The time after colonization.
Here would be found objects that speak for the aftermath, so all problems that have arisen or are still playing as a result of the colonization.