Projects

The Secret City

Middelburg, Jan 1997

Duration: 09.1997 - 10.1997
Location: De Vleeshal & inner city, Middelburg
Participants: 57
Visitors: 500
Number of Events: 36

De Verborgen Stad (The Secret City) (1997) was an exhibition project, organized for De Vleeshal by Lex ter Braak together with Maria Rosa Boezem and Van Heeswijk, that explored the unknown side of a city - Middelburg - in an array of potential discoveries, developed during the course of the exhibition to reveal the variety of the secret city to the public. Secret City is the name given to the network of back alleys, fire escapes and garden entrances that make up the old inner city of Middelburg. It is not a closed circuit, rather a web wrenched into pieces scattered among the town's main streets. Some of these back alleys are the shortcuts and quiet streets preferred by Middelburg's inhabitants; others are regular highlights on the tourist itinerary. Yet most lead a sleepy existence. By charting these streets and linking them in a specific route, the alternative side of the city is opened up to full view.

Artists, activists, writers and thinkers propose a spectrum of possible explorations of this unknown side of the city. Twenty-three commentators were invited, along with the public, to give shape to this project. They were invited to comment based on their own backgrounds and disciplines on the secret city, much as if they were criticising a text, and to explore all the city's different layers. In effect, the commentaries are a sort of non-material archaeology. Their contributions were attempts at written concepts designed to put the public on a particular track, yet, by their open associations, offered the public the opportunity to follow their own paths.

Each day, Van Heeswijk reworked and updated the map, a copy of the commentators' contributions, their proposals, documentation, etc., into route descriptions and made them available at De Vleeshal along with a special carrier bag. The visitors to De Vleeshal were also asked to record their own ideas during their walk through the city, using a disposable camera and a notepad. During the project, comments from visitors were added to the existing proposals. The project was not designed as an art route through a particular area, but as a collection of proposals with the purpose of charting the various layers of the area. The public was encouraged to examine the information in De Vleeshal (joint visitor and information centre) before working out a physical and mental route themselves. After the project, all holders of a carrier bag were sent the additional route descriptions made after their initial visit, so they would have a catalogue of routes through The Secret City.


participants


It's OK... commoning uncertainties

Oude Kerk, Amsterdam
2023


ULTRADEPENDENT PUBLIC SCHOOL (UPS)

BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht
2023


Community Wellbeing Collective (C.W.C.)

Westside Plaza Westside Plaza Shopping Centre, Wester Hailes Rd, Edinburgh EH14 2SW, Jul 2022
2022


Public Faculty No. 14

Westside Plaza Civic Square in Wester Hailes
2021


Public Faculty No. 13

Vallila, Helsinki
2019


Philadelphia Assembled

Philadelphia Museum of Art
2017


Public faculty No. 12

IGA Kienberg Park, Berlin, Germany
2017


Public Faculty No. 11

Sunset park, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2016


Public Faculty No. 10

Stolipinovo, Bulgary
2015


Public Faculty No. 9

Queens, New York
2015


Public Faculty No. 8

Hollywood Boulevard
2014


PARKWERK

Lohberg/Dinslaken
2014


Geregisseerd geluk

Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch
2014


Habitorials

Trumpington/Cambridge
2014


Trampelpfade

Werthacker
2014


Afrikaanderwijk Cooperative

Pretoriaan 141, Rotterdam
2013


Freehouse Zuid - Wijkwaardenhuis

Pretorialaan 141, Afrikaanderwijk, Rotterdam
2013


Public Faculty No. 5

Copenhagen
2012


Public Faculty No. 4

Hayward Gallery London
2012


Homebaked Bakery

Liverpool
2012


Glücksspiel

Werthacker
2012

drawing
drawing

The Great Unpacking of Associative Life

Marche des Douves, rue des Douves, Bordeaux
2011

Installation
Installation

Talking Trash

Church Street, Goulburn NSW 2580, Australia
2010

project site
project site

2up2down / Homebaked

197-199 Oakfield Road, Liverpool
2010


Public Faculty No. 2

Oleanderplein
2010

still from video shoot
still from video shoot

It runs in the Neighbourhood

Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger
2008


Freehouse Zuid - Radicalizing the Local

Afrikaanderwijk, Rotterdam South
2008


Fields of (inter)action

NAi, Rotterdam
2007

installation in Ram Gallery
installation in Ram Gallery

Amnesia of a Landscape

Pijnacker-Nootdorp, Lansingerland
2006


Face Your World, Museumpark

Museumpark rotterdam
2006


The Blue House

Housing Block 35 Amsterdam, IJburg
2005


In the Field of Players

witte de withstraat Rotterdam
2004


Works, Typologies and Capacities

Neue Geschelshaft Bildende Kunst, Berlin
2004


Some 7

Ludwig Museum, Budapest
2004

Design
Design

De Strip

Westwijk, Vlaardingen
2002


Face Your World

inner city, Columbus, Ohio
2002


A Paper House

Rotterdam (2001), Taipei (2004-2005), Vienna (2005)
2001


Acte de Présence - Sans Valeur

Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana
2000


Draw a line

Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery,Tokyo
2000

installation
installation

Raising a Ruckus

Kunstlerhaus Am Deich, Bremen
2000

performance
performance

An Sich

Botersloot 40, Rotterdam
2000


Freehouse - West

Rotterdam West
1999

Facade Henry Moore
Facade Henry Moore

A Christmas Pudding for Henry

Metropolitan University Gallery, Leeds
1999


The Secret City

Middelburg
1997


Beyond ethics & aesthetics

De Unie, Rotterdam
1997


State of Mind

Villa Alckmaer Rotterdam
1996

installation
installation

Break. Dance.

Cleveland Gallery London
1996


Outside Livingroom

Mookhoekplein Overschie
1994


I + the Other. Art and the Human Condition

Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam
1994


Room with a view

Duende Rotterdam
1993


Room with a view (Private)

Amsterdam, Rotterdam
1993


Room with a view (Longing)

Rheinische Landklinik Kleef
1993


Room with a view (The Neighbour)

Maritime museum Prins Hendrik Rotterdam
1993


The Office

Heurne - Hemden
1993


The Dinner

Rotterdam
1993