Maurice Hermans
is a Dutch artist



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De Vrolijke Vernietiging

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01.09.2025 
International Seminar 
Kick-off the Anti-City Guide

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AUW   IDEÉ NOiR

DE VROLIJKE VERNIETIGING
Exhibition
Expected opening: 1 September 2025

The exhibition De Vrolijke Vernietiging tells the story of a vanished landscape and a city in transition. On the former site of the Oranje Nassau I mine—once the beating heart of Heerlen's mining past—a free open-air exhibition is being realized with monumental XXL billboards, arranged in an ensemble spread across the terrain. 
The title De Vrolijke Vernietiging is named after the visual essay in the book The Anti-City and carries an ironic undertone: the destruction of the mining infrastructure was presented as a necessary step toward renewal, but resulted in loss of identity and a city without tangible memory of its glory days. Where other European mining cities cherished their industrial heritage, the Netherlands chose a tabula rasa—a radical break with the past, disguised as progress.