KantineOost

The tree as metaphor and exchange material.
The Haarlem housing estate Parkwijk has a reputation as ‘problem neighbourhood’. Residents have little contact with each other and the area often features negatively in the press. To counter this stigma, Titia Bouwmeester organized a comprehensive oral history project with ‘personal growth’ as a central theme.

Residents receive a young tree in exchange for their life story. Theatre makers talk with residents about their personal growth; their roots – the past, trunk – the present, and their branches – the future. On the basis of these conversations, the theatre makers develop short musical dialogues.

Just before this project kicked off, the council decided to chop down all the trees in the park situated in the middle of the estate. This was necessary because the soil in the park was contaminated. Nonetheless, many residents were angry. Titia Bouwmeester decided to make a virtue of necessity by offering residents a young tree. When the park has been renovated the trees will be replanted. Till that time residents take care of their trees in pots, on balconies, schoolyards and gardens throughout the neighbourhood.

Twice a year all the trees together form a temporary forest. In summer residents can join a picnic or build tree huts among the young trees. In winter residents gather round a campfire of felled tree trunks from the park and listen to stories and music. In March 2014 all the trees were planted in the renovated Reinaldapark. This home-grown forest will be a permanent meeting place in the neighbourhood. The resident’s stories will remain hanging among the tree branches.

To boost the impact of these activities, Titia Bouwmeester organized art educational and cultural participation programmes for a period of three years that were substantively linked to the project.