Aceh is the second film in the series entitled History, Memory, Commemoration, a project that explores how to commemorate a shared colonial history together.
After the independence of Indonesia, president Sukarno ordered most colonial statues to be demolished and streets to be renamed. Looking forward, the past had to be quickly forgotten. While Sukarno tried to quickly wipe out the history, in the Netherlands colonial memorials were preserved and became source of controversy. What does the presence or absence of these monuments mean? How do people commemorate in the absence of memorials or in the presence of controversial statues?
Aceh is the second film in the series entitled History, Memory, Commemoration, following after the release of Java. The project, realized in association with De Balie and created by artists Mirwan Andan, Iswanto Hartono, and Hans van Houwelingen will result in seven films, each recorded on specific locations in Indonesia and the Netherlands, that relate to the colonial history. This film was recorded in Aceh and portrays how history is remembered and commemorated within the specific Aceh culture. It shows the influences of historiography, politics, religion, generation, education and fashion on the way history is passed on to new generations.
More about History, Memory, Commemoration
The film series dispenses with a one-sided view and shows the wide variety of meanings of one shared colonial history. The leading motif is the Van Heutsz monument renamed the Indië-Nederland monument in Amsterdam and the Van Heutsz monument in Jakarta, demolished in 1953. This film series is not only a journey through time, but also an invitation to recognise and reconsider the diversity of our shared history.
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