Surplus Dust – Glanerbrug, Enschede 2000

Café Muller was a one hundred year old village café with a dance hall. This location with collective memories was run by the Muller family for four generations. With the project Surplus Dust I gave form to the demolition from an artistic viewpoint, saying a meaningful farewell to give identity to a disappearance, and to reveal the soul of a place. An archeological journey back in which the result was unpredictable. 

Stripping the café – The razing of the café was shared with the residents in a provocative manner, by having them strip the café together. The layers which had disappeared returned to the location in the form of photographs. The tables and the table for the regulars came back by lifting the floorboards. 

Ritual demolition of the dance hall – The party and dance hall were rebuilt a number of times during their one hundred years of existence. We removed two ceilings and several internal walls in order to regain one large room . The addition was ritually dismantled. It was something between a farmer’s marriage and an act of demolition. The Muller family played the main role. They wore costumers where the fronts were work clothes and the backs were evening clothes. The public was encouraged to pull a wall down, accompanied by percussion and choral music. Afterwords, kale and sausage. 

Archeology in Kunstvereniging Diepenheim – The retrospective exhibition in Diepenheim created an atmosphere of “work in progress”. Material, photographs and documents were archived in specially designed boxes with compartments, displayed on twelve tables. As whole, the exhibition formed a visual archive of a place with a rich village tradition which has disappeared. 

Video: farewell to Cafe Muller (Pim Mookhoek) 4:01 min (in Dutch)

Financing Provincie Overijssel, Gemeente Enschede, VSB fonds, Anjerfonds Overijssel, Stichting Josine de Bruyn Kops, Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, Voorzieningsfonds voor Kunstenaars, Familie Muller, SNS Reaal Fonds. Concept and organization Ida van der Lee. Public Relations Marjolein Hessing. Technical and advice Paul van Blom. Advice Het Kunstgeografisch Genootschap. Director of performance Ida van der Lee. Costumes Itie Langeland. Dancers Sinie, Hans, Erik en Margret Muller, Theo en Ria Wijering, Riekie Wijnen en Agnes Markerink. Percussion Michael de Miranda, Martin Gort en bandleden. Song Montana, Glanerbrug. Photography Peer Reede, Fons Kuipers, Paul Gofferjé. Video Pim Mookhoek, Pauline Bremmer. Lecture Michael van Hoogenhuyze. Essay Jurriaan Benschop. Publication Philip Stroomberg; Stofoverschot tekst Juriaan Benschop. CD rom Jessica Panhuijsen. Exposition Kunstvereniging Diepenheim. Self published flyer met tekst van Jurriaan Benschop.