Tape art installation “Children of the War” by Max Zorn displayed above the entrance of the Dutch Resistance Museum (Verzetsmuseum) during the Amsterdam Light Festival 2013–2014. Photo courtesy of Joop Reuvecamp (Jan 2014)
The piece features four WWII-era children whose faces were created with layered brown packing tape on acrylic glass and illuminated by the museum’s interior lights, giving them a sepia-toned, photographic appearance flickr.com. Max Zorn produced this work in partnership with the Verzetsmuseum and GO Gallery as part of the Amsterdam light festival’s Illuminade walking route, aligning with the museum’s themes of wartime resistance and survival verzetsmuseum.org. It remained on display through January 19, 2014, and a special evening opening on 17 December 2013 drew dozens of visitors verzetsmuseum.org.
This temporary light-art installation created for the Amsterdam Light Festival in winter 2013–2014. Commissioned by the festival, Zorn developed “Children of the War,” a tape art collage depicting four children who lived through World War II maxzorn.com. These four figures – named Eva, Jan, Nelly, and Henk – are actually the narrators/protagonists from the Verzetsmuseum’s Junior exhibit (the museum’s youth-oriented section), each representing themes of persecution, resistance, collaboration, or daily life during the war amsterdamlightfestival.com amsterdamlightfestival.com. Zorn rendered their portraits entirely in brown packing tape on Plexiglas panels; by day the images looked opaque, but by night the museum’s interior lights back-lit the tape, causing the faces to glow in sepia tones reminiscent of archival WWII photographs maxzorn.com. In addition, Zorn created a fifth tape portrait of an Amsterdam resistance fighter, which was displayed inside the museum’s auditorium as part of the exhibit verzetsmuseum.org verzetsmuseum.org.
Contemporary records from the museum and festival confirm this collaboration. The Verzetsmuseum’s official Jaarverslag 2013 (annual report) notes that, because the festival’s Illuminade route passed through the Plantage neighborhood that year, the museum “exhibited under the title Children of the War illuminated portraits of the four main characters of Verzetsmuseum Junior above the entrance doors, made of brown tape by the artist Max Zorn” verzetsmuseum.org. The report also mentions that on 17 December 2013 the museum held a special evening opening as part of the Light Festival, attracting 85 visitors to view Zorn’s illuminated tape art verzetsmuseum.org. The following year’s report likewise highlights the museum’s participation in Amsterdam Light Festival “with illuminated artworks made of brown tape by the German artist Max Zorn,” on display until 19 January verzetsmuseum.org verzetsmuseum.org. The Amsterdam Light Festival’s own documentation describes Zorn’s piece and its context: “‘Children of War’ depicts four children that lived through World War II… Innocent and observant, their faces glow through layers of brown packing tape. In the Verzetsmuseum, these children tell their stories of the war”amsterdamlightfestival.com. This collaboration was organized in partnership with Amsterdam’s GO Gallery and the museum heynekunstfabrik.de, effectively bringing Zorn’s contemporary tape-art into a dialogue with the museum’s historical narrative.
Sources
- Dutch Resistance Museum – Annual Report 2013, p.23 (in Dutch), describing “Children of the War” tape-art portraits by Max Zorn above the entrance and an ALF evening openingverzetsmuseum.orgverzetsmuseum.org.
- Dutch Resistance Museum – Annual Report 2014, p.20–21 (in Dutch), noting participation in Amsterdam Light Festival with illuminated tape artworks by Max Zorn (through 19 Jan 2014)verzetsmuseum.orgverzetsmuseum.org.
- Amsterdam Light Festival official site (2013–2014 edition) – Artwork profile for “Children of the War” by Max Zorn, detailing the concept and the children’s WWII stories in Verzetsmuseum Junioramsterdamlightfestival.comamsterdamlightfestival.com.
- Max Zorn Timeline (artist’s official site) – Entry for Dec 2013–Jan 2014, confirming “Children of the War” was commissioned for ALF and installed on the Verzetsmuseum facademaxzorn.commaxzorn.com.
- Heyne Kunst Fabrik (Germany) – Max Zorn CV, listing “Amsterdam Light Festival (2013), together with GO Gallery and the Verzetsmuseum” as part of his exhibition history heynekunstfabrik.de.
- Flickr – Photograph and caption by Joop Reuvecamp (Jan 2014) describing Zorn’s “Children of the War” tape art at Verzetsmuseum and how the museum’s light makes it appear like sepia photos flickr.com.