“What a piece of work is man! how Noble in
Reason? how infinite in faculty? in form and moving
how expresse and admirable? in Action, how like an Angel?

In apprehension, how like a God?
The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals — and yet,
to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Men delights me not.”

—after Hamlet, William Shakespeare

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 What a Piece of Work is Man (2021), presented for the first time on the former shooting range of Het HEM, is an installation which makes the explosiveness of the Dutch colonial past palpable and emphasises the importance of making space for varying perspectives on our past. The Hembrug site, the location of a munitions factory of the Dutch state active until 2003, brings forth a range of contesting sentiments and is by no means a neutral player in this work. But how do we write a history that leaves room for multiplicity and conflicting perspectives and experiences?

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Counter monuments

What started in March 2015, when a student in Cape Town threw a bucket of faeces over a monument of British diamond mogul, imperialist politician, and White supremacist Cecil Rhodes, led to a worldwide domino effect as statues of colonial warlords toppled one after another. These haunted monuments are often about one hundred years old and operate as silent yet dominant witnesses of a deep inequality in society. Whilst they are largely being overlooked by most people, depending on skin colour and background, they can be a painful reminder and provocation for others. Throughout the world the moment has come to pronunciate these perspectives to be more publicly. Including in the Netherlands, with a heated debate on removing the statue of merchant, general and colonial offender J.P. Coen in Hoorn. This type of iconoclasm does not aim to ‘erase history,’ as is often claimed; instead, it reviews how history is told and generates attention for the underrepresented and uncomfortable episodes of that history.

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excerpt from a text written by curator Rieke Vos

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