Museumstraat
2009 - EXHIBITION / INTERVENTION
The Museumstraat (or Museum Street) was an open-air exhibition on the boarded facades of abandoned houses in Volta Galvani, Woensel West, awaiting demolition. In the manner of a public archive, the Museumstraat tells about the history and the personal stories that have taken place in this part of the district. Some of the empty homes were turned into a diorama. The more residents would leave, the more buildings became empty and hence the exhibition grew. Eventually all the streets were abandoned, the facades were planked and the exhibited collection was completed. A day before the bulldozers appeared, the Museumstraat was celebrated with a festive and official opening.
Besides images from the archive of the local historical group, the collection existed of pictures and stories from the personal archives of residents. Stories and anecdotes of which no images were available but that were important to the identity of the area were visualised by a professional illustrator. In the museum shop (abandoned) ‘souvenirs’ of the old Volta Galvani were being sold for a symbolic price. Ranging from doorbells and name tags to a tap-handle or a sink drain, the ‘lost property’ was wrapped in a specially designed packaging showing the location of the home in which the object was found.
