This is the third consecutive exhibition by The Europeans in the former H&M fashion store in the Kroonpassage in Den Helder, now Kunsthal45. The texts in the exhibition have been translated into Dutch. The bilingual English-Basque publication is also being sold along within the exhibition.

‘Our Ancestral Home’ is the story of a stunningly beautiful region of Europe where the locals cherish their traditions, speak a mysterious language and pass down the picturesque houses and farms from generation to generation. That’s how it has always been. But tourists and wealthy urbanites have now discovered the region, and the original inhabitants are succumbing to the lure of the exorbitant amounts that outsiders are willing to pay for a rural retreat. “We have sold our country,” activists lament. But who can resist the laws of capitalism?

The exhibition is on display until Aug. 6. Then we will convert to our fourth chapter, The Black Country, which opens October 22, 2023.

Since the launch of the first chapter within The Europeans in 2020, we have been recreating our regional exhibitions online in 2D or 3D on the free access platform artsteps.com. Although initially born out of necessity - that initial exhibition remained closed due to corona - we valued the fact that in this way local exhibitions can be visited by everyone. Anywhere in the world and open 24 hours a day. The platform is quite limited in possibilities, and our designers Kummer & Herrman use all their creative tricks to make it look as genuine as possible. That was also the case with our latest exhibition at Station V, a gallery situated in a former petrol station on a busy roundabout in Bayonne. Due to all the commotion that surrounded the opening, we completely ignored to highlight the online version at the time. But here it is. We aim to run our own online The Europeans museum by 2030, with twenty different rooms in which former region presentations can be visited.

If you want to escape the madness of the Paris Photo VIP opening on Wednesday 9 November, you are welcome for an informal presentation of The Europeans at the legendary Paris bookstore delpire & co starting at 6pm. Among other things, I will be in conversation with François Hébel, director of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. The photographer Henri Cartier Bresson published his book Les Européens in 1955. He looked beyond nationalism or local customs in the individual countries. He sought evidence for a greater identity, a European parable shared by the people and the landscape. Together with writer Arnold van Bruggen, we share this ambition and believe it’s time to come up with a new version of The Europeans.

Wednesday 9 Nov, 6 pm.
Delpire & co
13 rue de l’Abbaye 75006 Paris
Free entry

Last summer, writer Arnold van Bruggen and I presented our latest chapter within The Europeans in the place where the work was created: The French Basque Country. After selling out the accompanying English-French publication Our Ancestral Home, we have just started shipping the brand new English-Basque edition (with new cover!). The print run is limited to 500 copies.

Our Ancestral Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale is from July 13, until August 20, 2022 on display at Station V, a former petrol station located on a very noisy roundabout in Bayonne in the French Basque country. Especially the free newspaper Money Always Wins, which is presented on an outside wall yet also free to take home, catches the eye of random passers-by. We received a lot of feedback on our stories from locals regarding the most divergent topics, something that we deliberately look for in order to incorporate into the future of this project.

Join us for a small gathering around the launch of Our Ancestral Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale and the free newspaper Money Always Wins / L’Argent Gagne Toujours at the magnificent leboudoir2dot0, rue La Fontaine 2bis Arles in partnership with Leporello Books. Depending on audience and the needs, I might speak about inspirations behind The Europeans. There will be a tote bag lottery and free newspapers for everone.

Now that our stock of the French-English edition has run out, we make use of the opportunity to reprint Our Ancestral Home. And to fulfil an additional wish: to make a Basque-English edition. Besides the change of language and the cover photo, the book will be exactly the same as the French-English edition. You can already pre-order, we expect to ship by the end of August.

Looking for Our Ancestral Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale? Please buy your copy at one of the following bookstores:

Foam, Amsterdam, NL
Huis Marseille, Amsterdam, NL
FoMu, Antwerp, BE
Kominek, Berlin, DE
Fotomuseum, Den Haag, NL
Café Lehmitz, Koln, DE
Setanta Books, London, UK
Micamera, Milan, IT
Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, BE
Photo Book Corner, Lisbon, PT
Photobookstore.co.uk, Online, UK
Photobookstore.nl, Online, NL
Photoeye, Online, US
La Nouvelle Chambre Claire, Paris, FR
Picto la Comète, Paris, FR
Leporello Books, Rome, IT
Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, NL
De Utrechtse Boekenbar, Utrecht, NL
Anzenberger, Vienna, AT

Café Lehmitz and Leporello sell copies during the opening week of Rencontres d’Arles

Today the first books Our Ancestrale Home / Notre Maison Ancestrale were sent to people who bought a copy in pre-sale. The official launch of this new chapter within our multiyear project The Europeans will take place on Wednesday, July 13 at 6 pm at Station V in Bayonne. Want a sneak peak? Order now online or buy this brand new publication during Les Rencontres d’Arles at the following bookstores: Café Lehmitz at Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Leporello Books at Le Boudoir 2.0 and KABK at the Capitole and collège Saint-Charles.

The Europeans 2020-2030, the project I am working on together with writer Arnold van Bruggen, is starting to get up to speed. Six months after launching The Naval Base, we hereby announce our next chapter Our Ancestral Home.

Our Ancestral Home is the story of a stunningly beautiful region of Europe where the locals cherish their traditions, speak a mysterious language and pass down the picturesque houses and farms from generation to generation. That’s how it has always been. But tourists and wealthy urbanites have now discovered the region, and the original inhabitants are succumbing to the lure of the exorbitant amounts that outsiders are willing to pay for a rural retreat. “We have sold our country,” activists lament. But who can resist the laws of capitalism?

Since the start of The Europeans 2020 - 2030, we offer the possibility of adopting a region for 120 euros. If you do so before the printing deadline, your name will be mentioned in the colophon of the Special Edition. The deadline for inclusion in Our Ancestral Home is 22 May 2022. After that date, the hardcover edition including same sized print will remain available as long as stocks last. There are 120 numbered copies available. By purchasing one of our Special Editions, you help us keeping the price of the regular edition at €9.50 and by doing so you support our ambition to make our work accessible to a wide audience.