Workshop Representing violent pasts: museums, colonialism and environmental degradation

On 10 April, the Memory & Heritage Network of Utrecht University and the ERC project Ecologies of Violence: Crimes Against Nature in the Contemporary Cultural Imagination (Eco-Violence) are organizing a workshop on the representation of colonial and ecological violence in museums. This workshop is aimed at scholars and cultural practitioners (such as curators and museum educators) within the fields of cultural memory, museums and cultural heritage, who are working on or interested in the topic of ecological violence and its complex entanglements with other forms of violence – such as colonialism and genocide –, both in the past and in the present.

Photographs from the exhibition “The call of the O’o: Nature under pressure” at the Allard Pierson museum (photos: Allard Pierson museum).

The workshop starts with a word of welcome by Dr Susanne Knittel and Dr. Gertjan Plets and a short presentation about two projects they are currently leading, respectively: Eco-Violence and Colonial Legacies of Universities: Materialities and New Collaborations (COLUMN).

The workshop includes presentations by curators and artists about recent exhibitions that address this topic (more information about the speakers can be found below). These will be followed by a moderated conversation with the speakers, wherein we discuss questions such as: what are the societal and sector developments and debates that the exhibitions feed into?; what kinds of narratives do they produce?; what are the challenges when exhibiting a topic like ecological violence?; which strategies are employed to generate impact amongst the visitors?; what sorts of materialities are used to tell these stories?; how do the institutions themselves reflect on their implication in these histories?; and what kind of public and school programming is developed to teach about eco-violence?

The workshop includes a discussion together with the participants to explore the kinds of projects that are currently being develop within universities and other organisatios on these topics. The participants are invited to actively participate in the discussions. We are interested in exploring how academia and the cultural sector can work together in productive ways.

Programme

13:15                  Arrival with coffee and tea

13:30                  Welcome & introduction by Susannne Knittel and Gertjan Plets

13:45                  Introduction round participants

14:00                  Presentation and film screening Submerged Heritage project by curator Vincent van Velsen & artist Miguel Peres dos Santos

14:40                  Short break

14:55                  Presentation exhibition The Call of the O’o. Nature under Pressure by curator Myriam van der Hoek

15:15                  Presentation on upcoming exhibition at Naturalis about Suriname by curatorial advisor Inez de Ruiter

15:35                  Round table discussion with speakers moderated by Sofia Lovegrove

16:00                  Discussion with the participants                       

17:00                  Network drinks at The Florin

Date: 10 April 2025

Time: 13:15 to 17:00

Location: Drift 25 – room 301 (Utrecht University) followed by a reception at The Florin (Nobelstraat 2, 3512EN Utrecht)

Language: this event will be held in English

Registration and more information: The workshop is full. If you would like to be put on the waiting list or be informed about future activities, please email Sofia Lovegrove (s.lovegrovepereira@uu.nl).

Still from Soengoe Kondre, a specially commissioned film by artist Miguel Peres dos Santos (image: Miguel Peres dos Santos)

About the speakers

Vincent van Velsen is Head of Exhibitions at Eye Filmmuseum. He previously held the position of curator of photography and contemporary art at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Van Velsen is a writer, researcher, critic and curator with a background in art and architectural history. He is a contributing editor at MetropolisM; associate curator at Metro54; and collaborator with the New Institute and Miguel Peres dos Santos on the Submerged Heritage project.

Artist, researcher, film maker and educator, Miguel Luis Peres Antunes dos Santos was born in Lisbon in the late seventies, before moving to the Netherlands at the turn of the millennium. With a background in photography and video, his educational trajectory includes a Bachelor in Fine Arts and a Master degree in Artistic Research. He currently lectures at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, where he also leads the Audiovisual Design Department. His research focusses on the construction and deconstruction of colonial narratives through audiovisual design.

Myriam van der Hoek works as a curator of the history of science at the Allard Pierson, which holds the heritage collections of the University of Amsterdam. Previously she worked at the print room of the Rijksmuseum and at a rare book seller. She is specialized in early modern print techniques and the role of illustrations in scientific publications.

Inez de Ruiter is a collection specialist and curatorial advisor at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center, currently focusing on provenance research of colonial collections from Suriname. She obtained her master’s degree in Museums and Collections at Leiden University and has since collaborated in several ERC-funded research projects tracing the provenance of South American collections in European heritage institutions.