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REPLACED STREET SIGNS Anonymously executed intervention, during which street signs in the Schilderswijk (Painter’s neighborhood) in The Hague were replaced by street signs translated into Arabic. This action was performed as an extension of the Chinese street signs placed by the municipality in the adjacent Chinatown of The Hague. By implementing this already existing intervention by the municipality in another neighborhood (where Arabic for example would be the dominant language), the project reflected on the level of tolerance towards (originally) “minority groups.” Strictly speaking, Chinese immigrants are not much better integrated into Dutch society than Arabic ones. Yet there had been no discussion on the replacement of the street signs in Chinatown, whereas a similar intervention was unthinkable in the Schilderswijk. Thus, the project addressed the inconsistency with which the Dutch state treats its cultural minorities, and the implicit moral judgment underlying this behavior. Concept and production in cooperation with Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei This project was made possible with support of Stroom, The Hague (NL); The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, Amsterdam (NL) |