He remains silent for a while and grins a little, then he bends under the table to fix the button that turns on the 390 lights in the buildings and lampposts. A video made of that event shows Gregazarian looking at the maquette endearingly. They managed to track down creator Karen Gregazarian and reunite him with his work, making for a special moment. Together, they found a new temporary home, and have been taking care of the object ever since. One of them was Migration Historian Hanneke Verbeek, who, like Mulders, was immediately convinced that this object should be preserved for the time being. She called some acquaintances to find a new place for it to stay and to arrange a transport van. She thought it valuable that this object did force her to think about life in the AZC, so when she read in an appeal in early 2020 that the model had to be removed from its location within two days, she immediately sprang into action. We never actually think about what life there is like. You have certain associations with an asylum seekers’ centre, for example, that it is terrible there.
#The maquette professional#
Heritage professional Milena Mulders had seen the model pass by in a documentary and was fascinated by it even then. So it ended up in a museum in Markelo, in the office of a film company, and even in a dentist’s office. Although several people felt responsible for it, no one could store or exhibit it anywhere for a long time. Foto: Mina Etemad Lightsįrom then on, the maquette wandered around the country for years. I had finished my work.’ He left the asylum seekers’ centre and lost sight of the model. Everyone in the asylum seekers’ centre was impressed by it and the staff asked him what to do with it. ‘I sat there mostly at night, when everything was quiet, until I heard the first birds chirping.’Īfter a few weeks, the model was ready. Staff assigned him a vacant building where he could work undisturbed.
There he started making the model, though that space soon proved too small. With his family, he sat in caravan 404, somewhere in the middle of the site. For example, I wet the cardboard and examined how firm it was, to judge whether it would not break.’ ‘Sometimes I did tests with the materials. Gregazarian collected branches, moss, cardboard, wood, pieces of iron, anything he could find to recreate his surroundings so faithfully. I took in the 90-plus caravans and then drew everything on paper.’ ‘But here I walked the site every day and counted the distances between all the buildings and objects. ‘I wanted to have a memory of that place.’ He had never made a model before in Abkhazia he repaired cars. He loved being busy with his hands, so when he heard in 2012 that their AZC was going to close, he had another idea.
#The maquette how to#
Without much to do and not knowing how to pass the time, Gregazarian started making presents for the asylum seekers’ centre staff, to whom he was so grateful for all their care. You didn’t know what would happen and whether you would be sent back.’ ‘It was beautiful and green there,’ says Gregazarian.
#The maquette full#
The AZC was once a holiday park, full of caravans, playgrounds and trees. They ended up in the asylum seekers’ centre Markelo (AZC). Karen Gregazarian, along with his wife and three children, came to the Netherlands from Abkhazia in 2010. Its model is now on show at Framer Framed in Amsterdam Oost. It began in caravan 404 - a story about a maquette without a residence permit Ten years ago, Karen Gregazarian built an enchanting maquette of his then environment, the asylum seekers’ centre Markelo.
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