‘During conversations with residents of Watou, artist Danielle van Vree noticed that they regularly recalled artworks from previous editions of the festival. It became clear to her that the villagers felt a strong need for traces of the artworks that remain after the festival has ended. But if so few tangible traces have remained in the village, what lingers in the memory? And what is the value of these memories when the passage of time has erased every visible trace from the village streetscape?
Legacy is a film about the images and words that have remained etched in the memory of Watou. In the lead-up to the festival, Van Vree interviewed several residents, asking them to recall works and texts from previous editions. She then edited these audio fragments together with footage she filmed in Watou over the preceding six months with cinematographer Victor Horstink. We do not see the lively festival crowds, but only scenes of quiet landscapes, barns, interiors and deserted streets. The locations shown in the film are former sites where art or poetry was once presented or heard. This powerful document of time, projected in the attic of the festival house, poignantly shows the relentless way in which time transforms the visible world.
LEGACY (2022)
Festival Watou 2022: 31’
Yet the artist does not intend to focus on what has disappeared during the upcoming festival. She also wants to leave something tangible behind in Watou and, in turn, be remembered. In Brennepark, together with pupils from the local primary school, she sowed the word Legacy in summer barley in the fertile soil. Once harvested, this intervention too will disappear from the village, but not before leaving its imprint on the land for a period of time. The film begins with the empty field in Brennepark, follows the growth of the grain and ends with the harvest.
The crop will fundamentally alter the dark soil and nourish the people of Watou before every trace of it gradually fades. It is a powerful metaphor for the way previous editions of Watou have left their mark on local residents, as well as on the streets and buildings of this otherwise quiet border village. Legacy shows that what is passed on can continue to live on as memory.’
Camera: Victor Horstink, Bert Oosterveld
Editing: Ania Harre, Danielle van Vree
Sound design: Coen Bruins