SHARING BEYOND THE COLLECTION - 24 January at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Manuwi C. Tokai during the opening of the memorial altar, where the wooden boxes are replicas representing the presence of ancestral children in the museum.

What is being remembered at the memorial altar initiated by Manuwi C. Tokai, and what does it ask of us today?

On the 24th of January we welcome you to gather with Beyond Walls Collective and different communities to share beyond the collection at the memorial altar in the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam. The memorial altar, initiated by Manuwi C. Tokai, serves as a site of remembrance for the ancestors held in the museum’s collection. The altar is also a place for stories to unfold. The memorial altar will be present until mid‑February.

Together we will explore the urgency behind and beyond the altar, addressing what remains unseen in museum depots. Through a sharing session as part of Beyond The Collection, we engage with different stories connected to the memorial altar and ancestral belongings from Toraja, Maluku, and Timor. And we hope to hear from you as well.

This gathering is an invitation to slow down, to listen, and to collectively sense what these stories about ancestral remains might ask of us today. What emerges when we stand before an altar that holds memory, grief, resistance, and ongoing connection? What becomes possible when we share knowledge, stories, and lived experiences beyond institutional frames? 

Armando Ello and Jeremy Flohr placing artifacts from Toraja in Manuwi C. Tokai’s memorial altar, where three wooden boxes are replicas that symbolize the presence of three Torajan children in the museum depot.

We will reflect on how communities relate to ancestral belongings and how we can build practices that honor the people, lands, and lineages connected to them. Together we imagine what it means to moveBeyond The Collection toward relationships rooted in care, responsibility, reciprocity, and healing. 

You are warmly invited to bring your voice, your questions, your stories, and your presence. The altar is a living space, and it grows through all of us.

We hope to see you there! More information and signing up for the event, click here.