Duration: 09.1997 - 10.1997
Location: De Vleeshal & inner city, Middelburg
Participants: 57
Visitors: 500
Number of Events: 36

De Verborgen Stad (The Secret City) (1997) was an exhibition project, organized for De Vleeshal by Lex ter Braak together with Maria Rosa Boezem and Van Heeswijk, that explored the unknown side of a city - Middelburg - in an array of potential discoveries, developed during the course of the exhibition to reveal the variety of the secret city to the public. Secret City is the name given to the network of back alleys, fire escapes and garden entrances that make up the old inner city of Middelburg. It is not a closed circuit, rather a web wrenched into pieces scattered among the town's main streets. Some of these back alleys are the shortcuts and quiet streets preferred by Middelburg's inhabitants; others are regular highlights on the tourist itinerary. Yet most lead a sleepy existence. By charting these streets and linking them in a specific route, the alternative side of the city is opened up to full view.

Artists, activists, writers and thinkers propose a spectrum of possible explorations of this unknown side of the city. Twenty-three commentators were invited, along with the public, to give shape to this project. They were invited to comment based on their own backgrounds and disciplines on the secret city, much as if they were criticising a text, and to explore all the city's different layers. In effect, the commentaries are a sort of non-material archaeology. Their contributions were attempts at written concepts designed to put the public on a particular track, yet, by their open associations, offered the public the opportunity to follow their own paths.

Each day, Van Heeswijk reworked and updated the map, a copy of the commentators' contributions, their proposals, documentation, etc., into route descriptions and made them available at De Vleeshal along with a special carrier bag. The visitors to De Vleeshal were also asked to record their own ideas during their walk through the city, using a disposable camera and a notepad. During the project, comments from visitors were added to the existing proposals. The project was not designed as an art route through a particular area, but as a collection of proposals with the purpose of charting the various layers of the area. The public was encouraged to examine the information in De Vleeshal (joint visitor and information centre) before working out a physical and mental route themselves. After the project, all holders of a carrier bag were sent the additional route descriptions made after their initial visit, so they would have a catalogue of routes through The Secret City.