PRIDE AND STIGMA: a story of legacy

When moving to the Colonies of Benevolence, vagrant “families” were given a house to live in and were provided with minimum furnishings for a decent and self-sustained life. These belongings became an important part of their daily lives. Often used and reused, yet they had to be protected to persist through time. Like a legacy, this heritage transmitted by artifacts echoes the current situation of Veenhuizen and Frederiksoord. With the possible UNESCO’s World Heritage status, the historical information selected to be shared with the public will be an important part of the reflection process. Through the testimony of the Dubbelman family, the tablecloth designed by Louise puts the double-sided identity (at the crossroads between Utopia and failure) of Johannes Van den Bosch’s project «on the table». This tablecloth triggers open dialogues about the legacy and promotes a desacralization of the topic.