• Heroes of Equality
Anouk van Mil — Heroes of Equality
Heroes of Equality is a project with and about extraordinary people who have played an important role in increasing equality in the Netherlands over the past 100 years. In their way. In their time. For their strive. During DDW 2020 the project had its kickoff, with an online Collect-a-thon and three online talks! Dutch Design Week 2020 was the starting point for research into people, ideas, stories, visions of life, events, motives, memories and actions aimed at equality. From then, now and later. By organizing a Collect-a-thon, a self-designed process of collective collecting, Anouk wanted to get to know the Heroes of Equality together with de DDW-audience.
During 4 rounds of online questioning and discussing, the Collect-a-thon helped to search for content on equality in the Netherlands, for information and views on key persons and key moments. To give context to this search and to reflect on the growing collective archive 3 Livestream Collect-a-thon Talks were hosted with experts in the field of archiving, collecting, protest imagery and the accessibility and visibility of historic material.
The collectively created archive was finally designed into a spatial artwork. Where each piece of information was represented in the same, standardized shape and form. All hanging side by side and back to back to each other. Crossing and touching each other, literally and figuratively. All still, or again, open to interpretation and inspiring new views.
2021
In 2021 the project will evolve and focus on the individual people behind the equality strives in The Netherlands. Were these people seen? And how? As a hero, troublemaker, role model, visionary, example, rioter, game changer? In whom do we recognize ourselves or do we want to recognize ourselves? And in whom do we not?
What can we learn from these heroes? Of their process, their ideals and ideas? Of their perseverance, motivation, willpower and determination? Of their similarities and of their differences and contradictions?