Keerzijde
National Military Museum
A new thematic space has opened at the National Military Museum: Keerzijde (The Other Side). We were honoured to design this space, ten years after creating the museum’s permanent exhibition, which opened in 2014. A meaningful commission, centred on a difficult subject. Keerzijde sheds light on what often remains unseen: the aftermath of a mission. The scars that aren’t always visible. Those of soldiers who were physically or mentally injured, and of loved ones left behind.
- Location
- Soesterberg (NL)
- Client
- National Military Museum
- Year
- 2025
At the centre of the space stands an object that makes this story painfully real: an armoured Mercedes-Benz that drove over an improvised explosive device (IED) during a mission in Afghanistan. One of the passengers did not survive. The car, battered and marked by trauma, now forms the focal point of the exhibition. Above it, moving images are projected while the voices of soldiers and the son of the fallen serviceman recount the lead-up, the moment itself, its impact, and the time that followed.
Three-part collage
The exhibition reveals that the most profound consequences of military service often surface only when the mission is over. And it is precisely for that reason that these experiences deserve a prominent place in the museum.
