Getuigen/Witnesses (2017-2022) explored how a place not only preserves its history but also loses it—piece by piece, generation after generation. The work was set at Fort Beneden Lent, a 19th-century defensive structure on the Waal River, which has undergone multiple transformations over the course of 150 years: from military stronghold to squatted space, and now to a development site in a changing urban landscape.

The project consisted of two interventions. First, the site was given back to nature: not-original objects and litter were removed, and trees planted by former squatters were deliberately preserved. They mark their personal stories: births, grief, friendship.

Furthermore, I placed two sculptural objects—stacks of oak chests—on the site. They reference ammunition chests from the military period, but also moving chests, archives, and the palpable tension of something being stored or moved. In their silence, they carry stories. They bear witness to the past, but also to what is to come: the irreversible changes to this landscape and the surrounding social structures.

The project was informed by personal conversations with former squatters who lived here for decades in a self-sufficient community. Thanks to their care, the national monument has been preserved—but their own stories were at risk of being lost. With this project, I aim to anchor a collective memory in situ. Without sentiment, but with attention.