20 October 2023, 19:00–20:30 / Stadhuisbrug, Utrecht (meeting point)
Walk organized in collaboration with Sporen van Slavernij Utrecht with a performance by Jasper Albinus. RSVP via stadswandeling@sporenvanslavernijuitrecht.nl (limited spots available)
* Friday’s program has been canceled, following the call for a global strike in solidarity with Palestine
21 October 2023, 11:00–15:00 / Het Huis Utrecht
Gathering with talks and performances featuring Melissa Cijntje, Mitchell Esajas, Gary “Duimalot” Gravenbeek, Nancy Jouwe, Migaisa Poeketi (moderator), Wan Ing Que, and Sites of Memory. RSVP via leana@casco.art
Het Huis Utrecht is wheelchair friendly. Language: English
You are able to revisit the symposium via our Instagram.
Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons proudly presents Turning Pages: a gathering that engages with the colonial history and slavery past of Utrecht and its afterlives in the here and now, organized in collaboration with Wan Ing Que and Ayden Carlo. Turning Pages consists of a walk through the city and a gathering with several guest speakers, lectures, and artistic interventions. With Turning Pages, we want to continue our efforts to generate awareness and facilitate the exchange and production of knowledge through artistic mediations – that is, to collectively turn pages by sharing and adding critical narratives and insights to the local histories on the topic.
The city of Utrecht grew through the excesses that were hoarded through colonial violence and is to this day reaping the benefits. Whereas Utrecht is often omitted or forgotten when it comes to Dutch colonial history, this program wants to highlight the work of local artists, performers, historians, and cultural workers, who have relentlessly committed themselves to telling a more accurate story about the city.
The city holds stories of both erasure as a result of colonial violence, as well as stories that talk about resistance and resilience. To move towards healing and repair, we should first uncover and address those stories and narratives that have been made invisible. What could be the role of local artists, cultural workers, storytellers, and activists in collecting and caring for what is otherwise lost? Under coloniality, what has been rendered out of site/space? What stories are made invisible, and how do artistic practices disrupt and interrogate modern/colonial formats of organizing social life? Can a site of violence turn into a site of freedom, liberation, and joy?
Turning Pages continues with Casco’s long-term and ongoing commitment to anti/decolonial praxis, as seen in collaborations undertaken with artist Wendelien van Oldenborgh and the collective Family Connection. Furthermore, it follows our critical inquiry into our city of residence and Nancy Jouwe’s ongoing and crucial research on this topic, central to our first annual assembly, Elephants in the Room.
Program outline
11:00–11:15 Opening performance by Sites of Memory
11:15–11:20 Welcome words by Leana Boven and Migaisa Poeketi (moderator)
11:20–11:45 Keynote lecture by Nancy Jouwe (Sporen van Slavernij Utrecht)
11:45–12:00 Cape X Utrecht by Mitchell Esajas (The Black Archives)
12:00–12:30 Q&A with Nancy Jouwe and Mitchell Esajas
13:00–13:30 Performance and lecture by Sites of Memory
13:30–13:40 Q&A with Sites of Memory
13:40–14:00 Circles Becoming Lines and Seeds of Land by Melissa Cijntje
14:20–14:40 Talk by Wan Ing Que
14:40–14:45 Performance by Duimalot
14:45–15:00 Closing performance by Sites of Memory
