Famous!?

In this one tiny city in Holland I’m very famous. I have no special love for this little town, it’s a boring and ordinary middle-class place. Two and a half year ago I even didn’t know where it was on the map. But today I know more about this town than most people do. This is a result of a project I did two years ago, when I was asked to research the identity of this town and reshape my findings into a piece of art. I choose this time to write a daily column in the local newspaper. So for one month (November 2003) I wrote a column every day. It split the town in two. Even when I didn’t actually comment, but just wrote down what I saw.

Yesterday evening I was back in this little town. I was invited to give a lecture in which I had to compare its inhabitants with other world citizens. My lecture (only in Dutch) was a very critical one. So I was waiting for the tomatoes, when instead a choir sang a song specially made about me. For one minute I did really feel like a queen.

The local newspaper this morning (Threes Anna continues to provoke)