The power of a memory
Stichting Nederlandse Veteranendag, The Hague (NL), 2014 - 2021
More than 100,000 veterans live in the Netherlands. They’ve risked their lives in the name of peace and security, and they deserve recognition and gratitude.
Holding back tears
Elie found out he was a father by letter in North Korea. Roy made a fatal error at a refugee camp in Rwanda. Mike lost friends to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. As veterans recount memories like these, often holding back tears, the listener feels what it’s like to be deployed.
A lasting impact
Over several years, working with the Nederlandse Veteranendag foundation, we recorded the memories of veterans of various missions since 1945. Their stories provide a glimpse of Dutch military deployment to dozens of conflicts around the world. Though the veterans’ work varied widely, it has always had a decisive impact on their lives.
2018: Visitors can use a Kinect to swipe between memories at the Navy Museum.
A museum media sampler
Our treatment of the veterans’ memories effectively amounts to a sampler of museum media. We collected their stories on a website. We made an immersive film to communicate them to a broad audience. We built a giant beret containing interactive screens full of memories, which is touring around the Netherlands. We made a Kinect application for use in museums. Finally, some stories can be accessed through a HoloLens, which lets visitors step inside a virtual world and straight into five veterans’ memories.
2017: A giant beret provides an interactive view of veterans’ memories.
Story at the heart
This project demonstrates that it’s story that creates the most powerful emotional experiences. Ultimately, it’s the veterans’ memories that best convey the foundation’s message of recognition and gratitude for those who have dedicated themselves to safeguarding peace and security.
2014: All the memories are brought together on one adventurous website.
“It really affected me that my mother was so sad when I left.”
Rinke Wagenaar, duty officer in Afghanistan in 2008
Awards
Geschiedenis Online Prijs 2014
Shortlist
Credits
Client
Stichting Nederlandse VeteranendagContent Design
Studio LouterSpatial Design
OPERA AmsterdamFilm & Interactive Media Production
Studio LouterConstruction
Fiction FactoryHardware
Rapenburg Plaza