Creative duo Noortje Palmers and Jasper Declercq, together with photographer Dries Luyten, captured hundreds of Antwerp residents who take care of heritage in the city: not only the people behind the museums, archives, local history groups and at restoration sites, but also crossbow shooters, goose drivers, hiphoppers, members of fanfares and cricket teams, storytellers, choir singers, beekeepers, street volunteers and indoor football players... The result is a dozen stylized monumental group portraits in which the photographer gives her view on urban heritage communities in times of a Covid-19 crisis.
In addition, Palmers made more than a thousand individual portraits, together with colleague Dries Luyten. People are photographed with something they cherish and want to keep for the future: an object from a collection, a craft, a sport, a profession, a ritual, a party, a special place or a shared memory... All this turns the exhibition into a colourful series of photos which, from old to young, show the people behind the heritage. The exhibition also makes clear what heritage actually is: everything that has any worth to people.
The online exhibit: the story behind the photographs
'Everything of worth' is also an online expo. In the webapp you can find the stories of the portrayed groups, their members and their heritage. What brings these people together? What is their shared passion or the story behind their collection, celebration or tradition, or behind the place or memory they feel connected to? What do they find valuable about it? Is their heritage local or is it widespread? How do they pass it on and how do they see the future?
A co-production
For the MAS, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2021, the project is a retrospective of ten years of collaboration with heritage partners in the city. For its realization, the museum collaborated with ErfgoedLab Antwerpen. With the exhibition, both partners not only want to focus on the people behind heritage, but also question and broaden the concept of heritage itself.
- From 10.09.2021 onward, on display in the boulevard, without a ticket.
