Het Nationaal Archief (the Dutch National Archives)is the largest archival institution in the Netherlands. It oversees over 600 separate archival collections and is, in a sense, the memory of the Dutch people, from the Middel Ages, through the Republic and into the 21st century. In 2012 it will be opening its new 800 square meter exhibit space in The Hague with an inaugural exhibit 1001 Stories. This will consist of a “festival” of stories and narrators, each with a separate pavillion/theater. We travel through the world of documents into the realm of Story. Heroes, travelers, rebel lasses, ornery statesmen, divorcées, collaborators, seducers: all of these protagonists are brought to us from the diepest recesses of the archives, into the light of a shared history. Each subject will be coupled with a unique artist to translate the facts into a piece of theater, music or spectacle.
Todd will design the shell of the whole exhibit and supervise the building of separate “décors” for each theater.
