ANNE is an art project that makes Anne Frank part of our everyday lives and allows people to literally carry her story out into the world. In doing so, a spontaneous, active little moment of remembrance can arise anywhere in public space.
The first edition of ANNE is currently on view at the Anne Frank Zentrum in Berlin.
In september 2026, it will be presented at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Since 2014, I have contributed to various Dutch and German national commemorations. During my 2,5 year artist residencies at the Sachsenhausen Memorial and the Ravensbrück Memorial, I experienced how art can create new forms of remembrance.
The times we live in today, together with my experiences within the culture of remembrance, have convinced me that we strongly need new ways of remembering what happened in our past. New, easy accessible forms of remembrance that bring these themes into society and into our everyday life. Small moments of remembrance that can occur spontaneously, at unexpected moments and places in our everyday lives: on the street, on public transport, on the way to work or school.
Anne Frank has given us, through her diary, a deeply human and tangible perspective on how war, persecution and genocide can unfold. Her words allow us to encounter these realities through the thoughts, fears, hopes and everyday experiences of a young person.
The starting point of the artwork ANNE is a hand-printed screen print of Anne Frank’s favourite portrait of herself, printed in contemporary colours neon pink and neon red. These deliberately vibrant colours bring Anne out of the black and white and into the here and now.
Veronika Nahm, director of the Anne Frank Zentrum in Berlin
“I believe Anne would have been very happy with this image.”
From here, I developed a way to bring her into our society: the ANNE bag — a deliberately simple form: a bag. Something ordinary, familiar and accessible. An everyday object that people can carry with them through the city, on public transport, to work or school, and that in this way becomes part of everyday life.
The ANNE bag – a simple carrier of a powerful story.
This bag gives people the possibility to carry Annes story into the world and what happens around that gesture is significant: Other people encounter her image along their way — on the street, on public transport, at school or in other everyday settings. For a small moment, they may pause and think about Anne Frank, her story, and what she has come to stand for. It creates a chain of encounters.
Remembrance is no longer something that happens only at a memorial or a museum or only on a particular day. It becomes a small, spontaneous activ moment that can happen anywhere at any time in our public space.
