Wat een prachtige avond vol verhalen en ontmoeting in hartje Eindhoven!

Trots en dankbaar kijken we terug op De Stad Vertelt in Muziekgebouw Frits Philips Eindhoven. Afgelopen donderdag deelden betrokken Eindhovenaren verhalen, sommigen brachten zelfs persoonlijke familievoorwerpen mee waarmee het slavernijverleden in Eindhoven tastbaar werd.

Onder begeleiding van Glenda Pattipeilohy en Tamira Waszink werden verhalen en kennis met elkaar gedeeld. Maar ook de motivatie om te komen en wat voor hen belangrijk is aan dit onderzoek. Waardevol én belangrijk om mee te nemen in ons inventariserend onderzoek naar het slavernijverleden van de stad.

Avondprogramma De Stad Vertelt
Wat weet jij over het slavernijverleden van Eindhoven? Heb je een verhaal dat je belangrijk vindt om te delen en wil je hierover vertellen? Kom dan op 18 januari en deel je verhaal tijdens De Stad Vertelt! Een avond vol verhalen voor alle Eindhovenaren georganiseerd door onderzoekscollectief Beyond Walls.

Wat vind jij belangrijk?
De avond heeft als doel de stad aan het woord te laten en te luisteren naar wat er leeft onder betrokken Eindhovenaren. In het kader van het onderzoek naar het slavernijverleden horen wij graag wat jij belangrijk vindt dat we meenemen in ons vooronderzoek.

NIEUWSBRIEF #01 - Januari 2024

We zitten inmiddels alweer ruim een week in 2024 en Beyond Walls is na een vol en bewogen jaar ook alweer volop aan de slag. Hierbij in onze nieuwsbrief wat highlights van een mooi jaar. Van ons onderzoek naar het slavernijverleden van Eindhoven, de poetry en filmreeks Dichter bij Onze koloniale erfenis in samenwerking met Read My World en het Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, de samenwerking met studenten van de Universiteit van Amsterdam tot een internationaal meerjarig onderzoeks- en tentoonstellingsproject SOILS in samenwerking met het TarraWarra Museum of Art in Australië, collectief Struggles For Sovereignty in Indonesië en het Van Abbemuseum, Nederland.

Dit en nog veel meer lees je allemaal terug in onze terug- en vooruitblik!

Vooronderzoek naar het slavernijverleden van Eindhoven
De Gemeente Eindhoven heeft Beyond Walls uitgenodigd een vooronderzoek te doen naar het slavernijverleden van de stad. Als onderdeel van het vooronderzoek wordt ook geïnventariseerd hoe Eindhovenaren en Eindhovense organisaties betrokken zouden kunnen en willen zijn bij het hoofdonderzoek naar het slavernijverleden van de stad. De uitkomsten van dit vooronderzoek zullen naar verwachting voor de zomer worden gepresenteerd aan de stad.

Het collectief is na gemeentelijk akkoord op hun voorstel in het najaar van 2023 van start gegaan. Na de eerste periode van kennismaking en gesprekken voeren met verschillende comités, initiatieven en onderzoekers, is het onderzoeksteam in december gevormd en wordt het inventariserend onderzoek gedaan door een team van betrokken academici en makers.

READ OUR COLONIAL INHERITANCE I 9 December 2023 Julia Jouwe & Robinson Jouwe✨

Today, 1 December, we remember the first raising of West Papua’s symbol of independence, the Morning Star Flag in 1961. A year later the Indonesian military forces launched a violent invasion. Observers like Human Rights Watch, United Nations Human Rights and Amnesty International estimate that between 100,000 and 500,000 West Papuans have been killed since the Indonesian military takeover of West Papua in the 1960s. Show your solidarity for the struggle for self-determination and freedom through amplifying Papuan voices.

On the 9th of December we organize READ OUR COLONIAL INHERITANCE with a poetry performance by Julia and Robinson Jouwe.

Julia and Robinson share their story, how they connect with who they are, where they come from, and the significance of their story. Through music and storytelling, they pay tribute to their ancestors, both from the Papua community and the Queer community.

Beyond Walls Lecture at Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst - Beyond Walls was invited by Rotterdamse Academie van Bouwkunst to give a lecture related to their project Decolonisation of the Palace. This lecture is co-organised with Jate Bleeker and Wouter Pocornie, tutors in the studio Dekolonisatie van het Paleis (Decolonisation of the Palace)

Beyond Walls explores the intertwined histories shaped by the impact of colonization and imperialism on peoples, land and cultures. Agency, co-creation, reciprocity, relation building and empowerment form core pillars of Beyond Walls’ approach.

As a diasporic collective situated in the Netherlands, Beyond Walls collaborates with both institutions and communities to amplify marginalized stories beyond dominant narratives. They curate through a diasporic lens and connect this positionality to the bigger story of resisting colonial erasures through research, storytelling and art.

On 14 September 2023 Beyond Walls, BUROBRAAK, Van Gisteren and artists Fre Calmes, Nicky Saliha, Jerrold Saija and Gigi van Grevenbroek launched OOSTCAST - Straatnamen Indische Buurt.

Javastraat, Ambonplein, Sumatraplantsoen. These are just a few examples of street names in the ‘Indische Buurt’ in Amsterdam East. But did you know that they refer to an archipelago that is roughly 46 times the size of the Netherlands?

The Indische Buurt is home to numerous street names that are named after islands and regions in and around Indonesia. These names were given in the early 20th century when Indonesia was still under Dutch colonial occupation, known as the Dutch East Indies. Some of the street names still retain their colonial names. For instance, the island of Celebes is actually named Sulawesi, and the capital of Indonesia is no longer Batavia but Jakarta. This archipelago has a rich history with many cultures, languages, and ways of life. Long before the arrival of the Dutch and other European colonial powers, societies with Kingdoms and Sultanates thrived, global trade and cultural exchange flourished.

What are the stories behind these street names we all move through daily? Find out through the Walking Tour, an exhibition and podcast! Go to OOSCAST.

The short films from the poetry film series 'Read Our Colonial Heritage,' featuring Joshua Timisela, Manuwi C. Tokai, Kevin Groen and Nisrine Mbarki, are now online from August 31st! Check out our special page with all the films and more background info.

LECTURE PERFORMANCE BY BEYOND WALLS
20 AUGUST TARRAWARRA MUSEUM OF ART, HEALESVILLE

Beyond Walls is invited to give a performance lecture at TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville (Melbourne), Australia. We are excited and honored to present ‘REMEMBER THE SOIL: Diasporic Perspectives on Soils’ A lecture-performance by Beyond Walls . With Glenda Pattipeilohy, Jeremy Flohr, Suzanne Rastovac and Armando Ello.

Though our historical and contemporary trajectories may differ, coloniality and modernity have disrupted humans’ connection to soils. Yet, it is not lost, erased or forgotten, unless we stop remembering who we are.

Commencing with REMEMBER THE SOIL at TarraWarra Museum of Art, Beyond Walls will unfold their practice as a diasporic collective situated in the Netherlands, collaborating with both institutions and communities. The Amsterdam-based collective shares their perspectives on soils through a diasporic lens and connects their positionality to the bigger story of resisting colonial erasures through research, storytelling and art. By delving into their individual as well as collective connections to soils and fostering active participation, Beyond Walls aims to connect to peoples and their stories in Australia.

Other speakers are Charles Esche, Director, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands; and Dr Victoria Lynn, Director, TarraWarra Museum of Art; and Dr Michelle Antoinette, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at Monash University.

On 7 July 2023, Dr. Tamara Soukotta defended her thesis on segregation and relational peacebuilding in Ambon with succes. As Beyond Walls we are proud to have Dr. Tamara as our board member and congratulate her with her succes!

In her thesis, Tamara Soukotta argues that (religious) segregation in Ambon put in place under the Dutch colonial administration and is sustained-maintained throughout the (post)colonial history of Ambon to the present time is coloniality of power manifested.

Nonetheless, relational peacebuilding-cultivating as practised by peace initiatives in Ambon has been the way to recover what was erased by coloniality. In other words, relational peacebuilding in Ambon is decoloniality in praxis.

THE SOILS PROJECT: an international research and exhibition project between Indonesia, Australia and The Netherlands

Beyond Walls is a fellow partner in The Soils Project: an experimental research and exhibition project organized by Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, TarraWarra Museum of Art near Melbourne and Struggles for Sovereignty based in Jogjakarta. Together with fellow artists, writers and academics, the team will build the Soils Project as an investigative process into how art can offer ways of promoting well-being in the context of exploitation and colonization.

Beyond Walls has been invited to give a lecture at TarraWarra and a series of workshops at Monash University in august 2023.

An artistic throwback to the amazing artworks by Fré Calmes as part of our multidisciplinary project OOSTCAST. A collab by Beyond Walls, The Black Archives, BUROBRAAK, Van Gisteren and Fré Calmes. OOSTCAST highlights the ever present stories of anti-colonial resistance and resilience related to colonial street names in Amsterdam East. It shines a critical light on these street names through education, storytelling and art. Artist Fré dove into the stories in Amsterdam Old East and created artistic reflections.

Fré: “Street names are important due to their everyday nature. They can evoke memories of both happy and unfortunate times. Since I've been living in the Netherlands, street names have taken on a different meaning for me. They are named after men who held a negative perception of my African ancestors. In this exhibition, I want to show how I now perceive these streets and buildings.”

📌🖼Tomorrow all these amazing artworks will be part of an exhibition in Hotel Arena, Amsterdam.

Shishani & Sisterhood live at Amsterdam Roots Festiva

On Sunday 25 June Shishani & Sisterhood will be performing live at Amsterdam Roots Festival! Don’t miss out on this amazing storytelling concert.

SHISHANI & SISTERHOOD
For SHISHANI & SISTERHOOD singer-songwriter and musicologist Shishani Vranckx dives into the various art forms in Java, Sumatra, the Moluccas and Papua and creates a personal interpretation of the works that inspire her together with all other female artists. SHISHANI & SISTERHOOD brings together a diverse line-up of multi-disciplinary performers centralizing female artists. With spoken word artist Tieka Masfar, tifa players Tiga Batang Rumah, musician Wulan Dumatubun, dancer Asih Sungkono, percussionist Sandra Sahupala, drummer Eveline Carels, batik expert Sabine Bolk, bass player Jaimie van Hek. For the special edition at Amsterdam Roots Festival, Shishani will also integrate the diverse histories of Surinam in collaboration with dancer Jomecia Oosterwolde.

SHISHANI & SISTERHOOD is a storytelling concertfilm by Shishani Vranckx in collaboration with Beyond Walls and Erasmushuis Jakarta.

Jedan Tutuhatunewa is de zoon van SMN opvarende Daniel Tutuhatunewa die ternauwernood de ramp op het koopvaardijschip de Bintang overleefde. Samen met anderen dobberde hij na een torpedoaanval in de nacht van 21 november 1942, 17 dagen op een vlot in de zee. Zijn zoon Jedan woont toevalligerwijs aan het water in het Oostelijk Havengebied waar exact de SMN-schepen aanmeerden.

Op 5 mei spreekt Jedan over zijn vader tijdens het Beyond Walls programma De Zee Vertelt. Ook heeft hij in zijn huis iets heel bijzonders waarmee hij zijn vader gedenkt. Bekijk hier zijn verhaal, opgenomen door Beyond Walls.

Kick-off of our collaboration with students of the University of Amsterdam

Dr. Yatun Sastramidjaja invited Beyond Walls to be involved with a special program Practicing Ethnography. These amazing students of the University of Amsterdam will conduct their own research inspired by our Beyond Walls program line ‘Beyond the Collection’ as part of their study Anthropology.

The power of oral history and storytelling

In this short fragment from our podcast series ‘Banda & Beyond’, linguist Dr. Aone van Engelenhoven stresses the importance of incorporating indigenous knowledges and oral history, not as a "nice-to-have diverse perspective”, but as a crucial part of understanding cultural heritage beyond the Modernist/Colonial gaze.

Through our own short stories, we want to take you with us and share the stories behind walls. And invite you to be a part of our journey.

Story #1 by Beyond Walls member Jeremy Flohr

Beyond Walls was invited to write an article for the international magazine Inside Indonesia.

Wethouder Kunst & Cultuur, Inclusie & Anti-discriminatiebeleid Touria Meliani bij de lancering van OOSTCAST