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Live premiere of ethnographic documentary: The Whalers' House
The Whalers’ House. Stories of cultural heritage on Texel is an ethnographic documentary produced in the Pericles project ‘Cultural heritage of European coastal and maritime regions CULT-COOP-07 2017’, which is a research and innovation action (RIA) call from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.
The story of the Whalers' House on Texel
The documentary tells the story of how the Whalers’ House on Texel became a valuable contribution to the maritime cultural heritage on Texel, one of the islands in the Dutch part of the Waddensea.
It does so, by reconstructing how two individual quests for the story behind the house came together. The film portrays the owner of the house, Annetje Capitain- Bendien and Ineke Vonk, historian and wife of a fisher.
From their stories it becomes clear that the house with the old boxbeds and beautifully decorated blue tiles on the wall, wasn’t a pilot house, as commonly thought, but had been inhabited by the whalers Claas Daalder and Simon Walig in the eighteenth century.
The two women were able to reconstruct the history of the house together. The house is now part of the cultural heritage of Texel and can be visited in small groups.
The Pericles project
The Pericles project is designed to address the challenges and risks that will affect Europe’s coastal and maritime cultural heritage.
By bringing coastal and maritime cultural heritage and the stories surrounding them to the fore, together with local inhabitants, using different methods, the project aims to contribute to keeping the heritage alive.
Texel is one of those places along Europe’s coastline where there is a long (in)tangible history of human-environmental interactions; such as maritime warfare, fishing, whaling, dike building and recreation.
Cultural heritage provides a sense of place, unity, and belonging to people.
Cultural heritage provides a sense of place, unity, and belonging to people. Rooted in specific landscapes, seascapes, buildings, stories, traditions, and language, cultural heritage is a fundamental part of every society. It connects people to each other and to the past and helps guide our future.
The project promotes sustainable, participatory governance of cultural heritage in European coastal and maritime regions.
Contribution to cultural heritage conservation and management
The documentary aims to bring people on stage who are not always recognized for their contribution to cultural heritage conservation and management.
With the documentation of the life stories of Annetje and Ineke; with showing aspects of a domestic life of whalers and their families beyond the images we know from ancient paintings; the documentary searches to connect citizens and visitors with the cultural heritage of coastal communities.
The documentary may also inspire active recognition of contemporary presence of ancient stories and family lines in individual and collective identities.
Online premiere May 18 at 15:00 hrs CET
The documentary will be premiered on Monday May 18 at 15:00 hrs. CET on the occasion of International Museum Day with a theme for 2020 which is “Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion”.
Watch the live premiere (in Dutch):