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'Memory'

Edition 58

Have you ever struggled to remember the colour of a friend’s eyes? Or have you ever binged an entire season of a show just to realise the next day that you can barely remember the plot? Our memory is a complex and fallible thing that can often trick or surprise us. And beyond the intricacies of our own minds, upcoming national holidays such as King’s Day and Ketikoti in the Netherlands invite us to challenge our ideas of remembering, (re)framing and reclaiming history and collective memory. In this edition of Inter Magazine, our authors delve deep into the topic of memory in all of its facets:

How reliable is our own memory and how can faulty memory lead to the conviction of innocent people? How do photographs affect the memory of newsreaders? What is the Illusion of Control and what does it have to do with overspending on public infrastructure projects? Which parts of history are usually left untouched and unspoken in Dutch national memory? Do we still remember the tax crimes revealed in the Panama Papers and have Dutch policymakers learned from the past? Is nostalgia negatively affecting our ability to tackle environmental and political crises? And how can we piece together the big puzzle of history using a variety of ancient and modern sources?

unreliability of memory marlon schotel

The (Un)Reliability of Memory

Written by Moran Katz Illustration by Marlon Schotel Ronald Cotton was convicted of two counts of rape and two counts of burglary in the winter of 1987.1  The jury believed it was unarguably him. The evidence was so compelling that he was sentenced to life in prison plus 54 years. Police accounts show that one…

The ‘Photographic Memory’ of the Newsreader

Written by Roeland Dubèl Artwork by Merel Hamminga When the French Republic, in June 1848, decided to suspend their plans to provide the workless with a minimum wage, it led to unrest among the French population. A crowd of disgruntled citizens came to their feet, in a riot which was known as les journées de…

The Illusion of Control

By Jasper Brown   Performance is a peculiar concept. It takes hundreds of hours to develop, but is showcased within a matter of minutes, even seconds. These events are recalled to the mind with relative ease, such as interviews for jobs, internships, or places of education. No doubt, the most vivid in one’s memory are…

Remembering the Past: The Historical Legacy Behind the Dutch National Memory 

Written by Helge Moes Photograph by Hannah Brunnschweiler Our memory is defined by past events and by those that take place in what is history. History consists of different forms based on the heritage and nationalism of the individual’s country. In this essay, I consider my own historical background, which is Dutch. The Dutch celebrate…

The Netherlands as a Tax Haven: Fact or Fiction?

Written by Pieter Vergouw Illustration by Taylor Brunnschweiler It has not been a long time – fourteen years to be precise – since the Netherlands featured prominently on a list of tax havens compiled by the Obama administration, among places such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Ireland. This was part of a U.S-led crackdown…

Negative Nostalgia: How We Stopped Believing in the Future

Written by Lina Leskovec Photograph by Ashley Miya Walking down the street in any area that would pejoratively be described as gentrified, you see them everywhere — charity shops, vinyl stores, antiques and antiquarians. It seems like we live in an age of nostalgia. This is not a new phenomenon, but it is definitely one…

A Memo for Tomorrow

Written by Nicolò Vecchio Illustration by Tes Miedema Human beings have a fascinating relationship with memory. We do our best to remember what we can and what we think is important, but we are forgetful creatures. In a modern society, perhaps oversaturated with stimuli, we even happen to forget basic things. We don’t remember where…

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