In 1952, the market square of Culemborg was reconstructed in Cape Town, South Africa. This reconstruction was part of a national festival in honour of Jan van Riebeeck (1619-1677), VOC administrator born in Culemborg who landed in Table Bay three hundred years earlier. This anniversary, which was also celebrated in the Netherlands, had the political and cultural aim of uniting white South Africans as a nation after the victory of the National Party in 1948. 

 

Culemborg Market Square (1593, 1952, 2025) is a collaboration between South African graphic designer Brent Dahl, and Cantonese-Dutch visual artist Jonathan Tang. The project deconstructs the visual strategies used in the reconstructions of the festival. The duo collects material about the different versions of the Market through archival and field research and storytelling cafés. The project investigates how the reconstructed market square has shaped the content, meaning and reliability of the memories of witnesses to the festival.

 

 In the current post-truth era, in which disinformation spreads more quickly and images are manipulated and decontextualised for populist purposes, Culemborg Market Square (1593, 1952, 2025) aims to gather new knowledge about the impact of historical images on individual and collective memory. This artistic research project involves professionals such as writers, research institutes, heritage organisations, educational institutions, regional and university archives, and art galleries in both the Netherlands and South Africa. The intended end result of this project is an artistic publication, followed by a physical exhibition in both Cape Town and Culemborg and an online exhibition.​​