1965 Today, 56 years after the Indonesian massacres
Oct 1, 2021
What to do with the dark pages of our history? Over 20 years after the fall of Suharto in 1998, the urgency to revisit the discourse of the anti-communist massacres of 1965-66 continues to exist even though space and freedom has opened up for victims to come forward with their stories.
Exhibition Review:"Stories Across Crossing Lands"
Jan23-May 23, 2021
Aptly titled, Stories Across Rising Lands offers a variety of artist perspectives on the historical and geographical diversity of Southeast Asia. As Museum MACAN’s first-time ever collaboration with an external curator Jeong-ok Jeon, a long-time Jakarta-based curator originating from Korea, the exhibition provides a balanced geographical and topical spread. Eight artists and one artist duo offer unique, historically, socially, politically specific and localized perspectives of lived realities across Southeast Asia.
Exhibited as Losers
May 3, 2021
A timelapse video of a sprouting red bean is accompanied by an Indonesian language voiceover delivered in a soft, fairytale voice : ‘This is about how humans are born, live and die returning to soil. And for the unfortunate ones, to be dug up again before their time to be exhibited to the world as the losers,’ says the narrator with more than a hint of sarcasm.
Pooja Nansi Responds to Lim Cheng Hoe
April 8, 2019
What might a female writer born in 1981 in Baroda, India have in common with a landscape water colourist born in 1912 in Amoy, China? This is the question Singaporean poet Pooja Nansi asked herself when we invited her to create an artistic response to the exhibition Lim Cheng Hoe: Painting Singapore in early 2018.
Dancers from LASALLE Respond to Danh Vo’s Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission
March 12, 2019
Across three weekends in August and September 2017, 11 dancers filled the site of Vietnamese-born Danh Vo’s sculptural installation on the Gallery’s rooftop. It was the first public programme for the inaugural Ng Teng Fong Roof Garden Commission series.
Rewriting Dutch Colonial Histories – final response with Caroline Drieënhuizen
Januari 10, 2017
Before the holidays we read Paul Doolan’s response to our post with great interest. We appreciate the time and effort Mr Doolan took to reply to our post as we think a fruitful debate will progress knowledge. With this writing we give a final reaction to Mr Doolan and if it is not for knowledge progression, it will at least get Dr Sadiah Boonstra’s name spelled correctly.
Rewriting Dutch Colonial Histories with Caroline Drieënhuizen
December 5, 2016
Paul Doolan (Zürich International School / University of Konstanz) recently criticized Dutch historians for their failure to decolonize Dutch and colonial history, and suggested the contribution of what he calls ‘outsiders’ as a solution. In doing so, however, he overlooks the fact that there are and have been many initiatives to rewrite Dutch colonial history.
Omgaan met Zwarte Bladzijden.
Musea en Koloniale Erfenis
Nu in Nederland, net als elders, de publieke aandacht groeit voor zwarte bladzijden van de geschiedenis, worden pogingen ondernomen onze koloniale geschiedenis te herschrijven. Het boek Roofstaat. Wat iedere Nederlander moet weten van Ewald Vanvugt is daarvan een voorbeeld. Ook Nederlandse musea, als bewaarders van materiële overblijfselen, objecten en kunst, worstelen met de vraag hoe ze met deze pijnlijke geschiedenis kunnen omgaan, zodat we ervan kunnen leren.
Machtstheater
Politiek is vaak theater, maar theater is ook politiek. Dat blijkt uit het promotieonderzoek van historica Sadiah Boonstra aan de VU naar de Indonesische Wayang theatervorm, die in 2003 tot Unesco-erfgoed werd uitgeroepen. De eerste beschrijvingen van dit poppentheater stammen uit de koloniale periode. Nederlandse geleerden waren denigrerend en negeerden vermakelijke aspecten, zoals flauwe en grove grappen.
