The Delirious Destruction: open-air exhibition Heerlen

1 September – 31 December 2025

Curated by Maurice Hermans the exhibition The Delirious Destruction tells the story of a vanished and vanishing landscape. It is named after the photo essay in the book De Antistad (The Anti-City) and has an ironic edge: destroying Dutch mining heritage was sold as a necessary step toward renewal, but it actually led to a loss of identity and an orphaned community.

While other European mining cities treasure their industrial heritage, the Dutch chose a clean slate—a radical break with the past, dressed up as progress.

The Vrolijke Vernietiging features both images by Jan Wismans, one of the coordinators overseeing the destruction of Heerlen’s Oranje-Nassau mines, and by Bosnian-Dutch photographer Mladen Pikulić.

Fifty years after the Oranje-Nassau I mine closed, the Bosnian city of Zenica is shutting down its last coal mine. Zenica is where Heerlen once was: on the brink of major change. Pikulić’ images mirror the rigorous Dutch approach: they show Zenica’s slow but inevitable break from the all-powerful industry.

Will Zenica escape The Delirious Destruction?

The Delirious Destruction is part of the international publication project The Anti-City Guide, of which the first edition is expected in summer 2026. The earlier, Dutch edition, De Antistad, is available on the nai010 webshop.