Florian de Visser
Story signs
Story Signs draw parallels between the present and the past by revealing forgotten stories about trade routes, migration, tourism and industry. All together they form a network of inspiring stories that connect villages and cities, making us aware of our living environment’s richness.
What happens today on a worldwide scale, happened in a similar way on a local scale a long time ago. Textile manufacturers from Haarlem in the North-West of Holland once moved to the province of Noord-Brabant in the South for cheap labour; today Dutch companies move to China for low-cost manufacturing.
Nuns from a convent in the village of Schijndel once developed health care and education for girls and elderly in Geldrop and other small villages in Noord Brabant; today days we travel around the world to build schools and hospitals for the poor.
In the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century people migrated from the Netherlands to the Ruhr district in Germany to work in the coal and metal industry. Our awareness of pollution led to decline of the coal industry, and the Ruhr area became a new place for recreation and nature. A place that once symbolised the industrial revolution now flourishes with museums, cultural events and shopping centres.
I believe these kinds of stories can change the way we look at our environment we tend to think we are so familiar with. They reveal the past and inspire us for the future.
The signs in the exhibition are ‘papercraft prototypes’. The final signs will be laser-cut out of metal and have a different scale. Every sign shows fragments of a story and stimulates us to learn more about the routes we are travelling. The whole stories can be accessed by use of smart phones equipped with GPS.
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