O Vaarwel! vergeet mij niet. / DEN HELDER 2016

Den Helder is a port city of comings and goings. People flow in in large numbers and later flow out again, like an ebb and flow. Sometimes for a longer period of time, such as in the Second World War, due to prolonged bombing, sometimes for a shorter period of time, such as with fishing boats, shipping and the navy. The vacancy in the city center is a current image of the departure.

It is precisely this movement of leaving and returning that we, artists Machteld Aardse and Femke Kempkes, find inspiring to work with.

There is always a farewell and Den Helder ‘kisses the sea’ and then - if all goes well - welcome people again and continues to build with new energy. The title of the book by Peter Hovestad and Jan T. Bremer, ‘Ach ik bid en smeek u, laat mij terugkomen in Den Helder’, (Oh, I pray and beg you, let me come back to Den Helder), touches on the longing for reunion.

For our light projection on the white facade of the former V&D, we work with text fragments from letters, notes, poems and songs over time, where the concept of ‘leaving and returning’ is expressed; postcards, what's apps, text messages, spill codes, bottle mail, all about leaving and seeing each other again. Intimate messages of longing, but also final farewell letters, diary fragments, poetry and the weekly text message to your loved one ‘keep going, darling, see you Thursday. Bring a nice fish.’

Through an open call to residents of Den Helder and through research we received and collected iconic images of Den Helder, the people, places, the landscape, the ships for which the departure and return are important.