Take 'Em Down. Scattered Monuments & Queer Forgetting

May 19, 2022

Take ‘Em Down. Scattered Monuments and Queer Forgetfulness

Author: Simon(e) van Saarloos
Foreword: Pamela Sneed
Translation: Liz Waters
Published by: Publication Studio Guelph / Musagetes – Shawn Van Sluys, Anna Bowen
Design: Gareth Lind, Lind Design
Kindly supported by: Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and Dutch Foundation for Literature

Published in: 2022.
Translation of: Herdenken herdacht. Een essay om te vergeten (2019).
Partner: TAAK
Coordination: Marlies van Hak


Book launch by Simon(e) van Saarloos 

On Thursday May 19 Simon(e) van Saarloos will launch their book Take 'Em Down. Scattered Monuments & Queer Forgetting (the translation of Herdenken herdacht, 2019). The launch is hosted by W139 in Amsterdam and will take place from 19:30 to 22:00hrs. 

Who determines what is remembered and commemorated, and why? How can we commemorate something that is both in the past and a daily reality? In this book, Simon(e) van Saarloos is inspired by the historically invisibilized lives of LGBT people and queers. They demonstrate the power of forgetting and wonder if and how it’s possible to live without a past. At the same time, Van Saarloos criticizes the way that a ‘white memory’—including their own—treats some stories as self-evident while other histories are erased.

An evening with performances by singers Mira Thompson and Jörgen Gario Unom, a reflection by queer conductor and theatre maker Manoj Kamps, and a conversation with researcher Margarita Osipian. Come celebrate!

In June, Simon(e) van Saarloos and TAAK will launch the website of the spread of a mo(nu)ment, an online collection of proposals for monuments in Amsterdam with contributions by 11 artists. Their proposals share a public life and living memory that exists but isn’t centralized in the dominant narration of history. 

Take ‘Em Down, with an introduction by Pamela Sneed, is translated by Liz Waters and published by Publication Studio Guelph. Realized in partnership with TAAK and kindly supported by Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and Dutch Foundation for Literature.

For more information and to get your copy, please visit Publication Studio Guelph: https://www.publicationstudio.biz/books/take-em-down/