The Project

"Art Writes History" is a project which will last for five years - from 7 September 2007 to 7 september 2012. During these years we are going to establish stories of works of art and local events surrounding the work of art so that they testify to a period in a lifetime.

The project will start in Aalden, where a large work of art will be erected on a site in the old village. Nine smaller replicas will be made. These will be placed in other villages and towns about fifty kilometres from Aalden. Every six months these replicas will be passed on to another temporary manager. These people will co-operate in the project.

Those interested will see to the news and current affairs both local and around the work of art by means of stories, photographs and video. Aalden will\'cafunction as\'cathe centre during the whole project; here some information can be obtained. Furthermore you can follow the events via a weblog and a public computer on the spot. During the project all the information of the\'castatues established and the stories of the various sites will be worked out and compiled in the book "Art Writes History".

This special project is sure to be in the limelight. We hope that, as the project proceeds, more artistic and cultural events will result from this. Schools for instance, can\'cause these themes in projects.

Background

Important events in the past led to the erection of the statue. Statues will become meeting places where you dwell on an event. They have seen generations pass away, gone through glorious and dull moments. The monument on the Dam in Amsterdam is an example of this. A statue can recall emotions that can be so extreme that the statue has to cabe removed.

Statues, wherever they are, tell about the history of a nation, country, region or village. With this initiative we hope to create a different view of art.

The statues

Artist Nico Kamberg will create the central statue for Aalden and the nine replicas for this project.The statues meet a number of conditions. The central statue will not be too vulnerable, as it will be on a site open to the public. The replicas have to be suitable for transport.

Every replica has one colour and is provided with a poem by Josée Algra.

The route

At the start of the project the original work of art will be unveiled. The work of art is the centre of a compass with eight points. The location of the nine replicas will be monitored from the centre of Aalden. Nine different mayors, ranging from an area of a 50 km radius will be invited.

They will be the first to be given one of the replicas. They will be custodian of the replica of the statue for six months. After this they will pass it on to another municipality or an institution of a randomly chosen direction and distance.

Every work of art will travel a long\'cadistance and will be able to tell a\'catale. It writes its own history. After five years the tenth and last manager will arrange for the replica to be returned to the starting point in Aalden.

Recording history

History will be recorded in text, photographs and on video. Recording visually adds something special to the events surrounding the replicas. The work of art and the replicas are characterized by the wear and tear of time. This is also a form of historiography.

In order to open this to the public they chose to digitalize history. People can also react to this via the weblog. In this way you can follow the history of the replicas. From the original work of art a "trail" will run to the site where you can watch the weblog on a computer. This will be updated all the time.

Aim

The aim is to let nine statues travel every six months and to join as many people as possible through updated means of communication so that a Euregional co-operation will come about. The works of art invite reactions to be put on the weblog.

The central statue, together with the travelling statues, will be a symbol to a storyteller. A storyteller travels and moves on from one place to another. He invites people to tell their stories in towns and villages. He tells them to other people and listens to new ones. On his return he will have a travelling history.

In this project the statues and their travel tales will return to Aalden. The book "Art Writes History" will be composed of these stories and the documentation.

The end

After five years the replicas and their history will return to the information centre of the project. The whole project will be complete and the participants will be invited. The statues can be sold by auction then.