From the 25th July, a weblog of the upcoming Van Abbemuseum exhibition project “Heartland” will be online. Everyone can follow the travels in the heart of the United States on http://heartland.vanabbe.nl.

“Heartland” is the working title of a large-scale exhibition planned for October 2008 in the Van Abbemuseum. The show will include art, craft and folk art, music and visual culture from the interior of the United States, reflecting on the core of this country at a time when the next US presidential elections will be the focus of the world’s political attention.

In order to research the culture and prepare the exhibition, Charles Esche(director Van Abbemuseum) Kerstin Niemann (guest curator Van Abbemuseum) and Otto Berchem (artist) will travel together from 25th July to 7th August. The journey will take them from New Orleans to Minneapolis, from the south to the north of the country through the states that border the great mythical river – the Mississippi. They will travel through city and country, industrial towns and farming villages, reservations, swamp areas and rich and poor neighborhoods, meeting artists, musical and craftspeople along the way.
The Van Abbemuseum created this weblog, so that they can report their findings back to you on the blog. It will include interviews, pictures and comments of people that they find on the way and will track developments of the project as it takes shape.

This is the first time that such a cultural research trip has been opened up to public view. http://heartland.vanabbe.nl will allow those interested in the process of making an exhibition or in the United States as seen through three different pairs of eyes, a unique insight into a museum’s way of working.

This project has been realized in part by a contribution of Mondriaan Foundation.