Groetjes uit de Zuiderzee

What happens when you reimagine the nostalgic postcard through the lens of contemporary visual culture? Greetings from the Zuiderzee! was a monumental multimedia installation featured in the group exhibition Must See, curated by Anne van der Zwaag at the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen. Fifteen artists and designers were invited to create new work based on iconic symbols of Dutch tourism. My assigned theme was the postcard, one of my absolute favorite forms of printed matter.

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Art Director

Dana Dijkgraaf

Curator and project advisor

Anne van der Zwaag

AV installation

Martin Ciesluck

Production

Zuiderzeemuseum (Manon Hees) and Dana Dijkgraaf

Construction

Apetrots (Wouter Groendijk) and Richard Dijkgraaf

Museum Collection Conserver

André Groeneveld

3D designer (rope title)

Yan Paul Dubbelman

Animation

Dana Dijkgraaf Design

Animation assistant

Dana Dijkgraaf Design - Nikki Gersen

Concept
The traditional postcard, once a vehicle for memory, longing and promotion, becomes a site for dialogue between past and present. Where postcards used to promote holiday destinations, today we use social media and review platforms such as Tripadvisor. Greetings from the Zuiderzee! explored this shift through five oversized cards, each themed around key elements of Dutch tourist identity, from fishing traditions to folklore, windmills and water.

What did we make?
In one of the museum’s rooms, five giant postcards filled the space. Each front featured a dynamic digital collage of mixed media including archive photographs, posters, museum pieces, modern illustrations, advertisements and video stills. Each card was accompanied by its own soundscape, adding atmosphere and depth. The backs of the first two postcards showed enlarged, handwritten messages from around 1919, sourced from the museum archive. The remaining three featured humorous or reflective Tripadvisor reviews, cleverly connecting historical messages with contemporary experiences.

Sparkles
The installation offered an immersive and playful surprise, filled with colour, sound and layers of meaning. Archival imagery collided with the tourist clichés of places like Volendam and Marken, complete with souvenir shops, stock photos and familiar visual tropes. The oversized format gave intimate, personal messages a bold and theatrical presence. What was once a small gesture, the handwritten postcard, became a monumental, reflective and witty tribute to a culture in constant motion. Greetings from the Zuiderzee! was both a warm homage and a cheerful nudge to look again at how we share and shape stories of place.

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