Date: 8 February 2026
Time: 3 PM – 5 PM
Location: OBA Oosterdok (Public Library Amsterdam), Theatre
Organisation: Our HERitage, OBA
Language: Dutch
On 8 February, the photo exposition Her Love, Her Story will be opened at the OBA Amsterdam. The exposition was created by the project Our HERitage and presents 11 portraits of Caribbean foremothers. Their stories show how love, family and identity shape new generations. The exposition will be at the photo gallery of the OBA from 3 February until 9 March.
The opening programme starts Sunday 8 February in the Theatre on the 7th floor, with welcoming words by Our HERitage-founder Fausia S. Abdul. Keynote speaker is prof. Valika Smeulders (Rijksmuseum & Colonial Collections Consortium). Additionally, speakers include authors Liesbeth Smit and Susi & Simba Mosis and participants Tiarra Simon and Robby Kibbelaar. The afteroon will be closed with an intense performance of Reframing HERstory Art Foundation, about slavery and being women.
Workshop: Relational heritage spacesDate: 27 January 2026
Time: 10 AM – 17 PM
Location: Oude Boteringestraat 36, Faculty of Religion Studies, University of Groningen
Organisation: Netherlands Chapter of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies
Language: English
On 27 January 2026, the Netherlands Chapter of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies is hosting their first workshop. The theme of this workshop is relationality in heritage spaces. The programme includes keynote lectures by Hester Dibbits (Reinwardt Academy) and Cindy Zalm (Wereldmuseum & Colonial Collections Consortium). Restitution is one of the central topics for this meeting.
Seminar: Rijksmuseum, its collection and researchDate: 15 January 2026
Time: 15:30-17:00 (CET)
Location: KITLV, Herta Mohr building (Room 1.30) and online via Zoom
Organisation: KITLV
In 2026, the Royal Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) is celebrating their 175th anniversary. In the Anniversary Seminar Series, KITLV invites people who have worked with them in the past 25 years, as visiting fellows, or involved in joint research projects. For the first seminar, KITLV has invited Valika Smeulders (Rijksmuseum) for an afternoon discussing the Rijksmuseum, its collections and its research.
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is renowned world wide for its art collection, with the seventeenth century at its heart, featuring Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals. As many European national museums built in the 19th century, its focus has been on the pride and glory of the Netherlands. Still, the 17th century is also the century of the foundation of the Dutch East India and West India Companies.
How does a Dutch museum re-invent itself to align with new insights and societal changes? How are the museum field and research focuses and policies changing? In her talk, Valika Smeulders will be reflecting on the work the museum has been doing in recent years, and looking forward into the coming years.
Symposium: The landscapes and cultural heritage of Saba and St. EustatiusDate: 19 February 2026
Time: 15:00-19:00
Location: Amersfoort, Oranjestad (St. Eustatius) and online
Organisation: Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) and the Public Entities of Saba and St. Eustatius.
Language: English
Saba and St. Eustatius are two small islands in the Caribbean. Within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they share the status of “special municipality” together with Bonaire. The history of Saba and St. Eustatius goes back thousands of years, and much of this past can still be seen in the landscape. Experts from Saba and St. Eustatius, from the wider Caribbean, and from the European Netherlands have researched and documented this cultural heritage. On 19 February 2026, they will present their findings at a symposium organized by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) and the Public Entities of Saba and St. Eustatius.
On Saba, The Unspoiled Queen of the Caribbean, people have continually adapted to changing circumstances. Its nature is pristine, and the island is renowned for its cloud forest on the volcano and the coral reef of the Saba Bank. St. Eustatius, The Historical Gem of the Caribbean, has a very different history. It was once the center of Caribbean trade. Goods from all over the world were traded here, and it was also an important port in the trade of enslaved people. Today, both islands have their own distinctive architecture, landscapes, celebrations, and traditions.
For the first time, the landscapes and heritage of Saba and St. Eustatius have been brought together in two books and in digitally accessible maps. This is necessary, as the spatial challenges are significant. Tourism, housing development, demographic changes, and climate change threaten the character of both islands.
A live connection will be established on this day between St. Eustatius and Amersfoort, allowing residents of both the Caribbean Netherlands and the European Netherlands to learn about the shared histories of Saba and St. Eustatius.
Humboldt University Berlin | Network Colonial Contexts Anniversary meetingDate: 26 November 2025
Time: 16:00-19:00
Location: Humboldt University Berlin
Organisation: Humboldt University Berlin, Network Colonial Collections
Language: German/English
On 26 November 2025, the Network Colonial Contexts of the Humboldt University in Berlin is celebrating its 5th anniversary. To mark this occasion, they invite those interested to an in-person event in Berlin for the first time. During the event, they will look back on the events of the last few years and take a look into the future.
The programma includes a guided tour through the photo collection of the art library and a roundtable discussion with Sarah Fründt (German Lost Art Foundation), Andrea Scholz (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) and Richard Kuba (Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology), followed by drinks and dinner.
Final Conference Pressing Matter | Rethinking the Restitutionary Moment: What Next?Date: 27-28 November, 2025
Time: 09:00 – 17:00
Location: Wereldmuseum Leiden
Organisation: Pressing Matter, Wereldmuseum, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Research Center for Material Culture
Language: English
The multi-year research project Pressing Matter: Ownership, Value and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums draws to a close at the end of 2025. Pressing Matter, funded by the Dutch Science Agenda (NWA-NWO) and the consortium partners, investigated the future of objects collected in colonial times. It asked about the potentialities of ‘colonial objects’ to support societal reconciliation with the colonial past and its afterlives, and how best to deal with conflicting claims by different stakeholders for these objects.
This final confernce explores what Pressing Matter’s critical friend, Professor Ciraj Rassool, has described as the restitutionary moment we now inhabit. The conference is conceived of as a series of provocations from distinguished international scholars who have been involved, both both theoretically and practically, in the discussions around the question of what to do with the objects collected during the colonial period that now reside in European Museums. Each presenter is asked to respond to the question ‘what now, what next?’. These presentations will be followed by extended conversations with the different researchers from the Pressing Matter project about their initial aims at the beginning of the project, what we have done, and how these aims may have been revised over the period of the project. Importantly, the conference explores what further work must be done to achieve the kinds of changes that Pressing Matter had imagined at the start of the project: to explore how we might conceive of restitution beyond its programmatic and policy limitations, but also to address the questions that this restitutionary moment raises in national and international contexts about living within the afterlives of colonialism.
Achille Mbembe: A Future of Solidarity
The two-day conference is preceded by a Brainwash Special with Achille Mbembe at the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam on Wednesday 26 November 2025, from 19:00-22:00. In this Brainwash Special, Wayne Modest, Director of Content at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, will be in conversation with Achille Mbembe to discuss the fractures that define our societies today. How do we hold on to solidarity in a world that seems to divide rather than connect? And what might a future look like in which everyone truly matters?
Seminar Moving objects, mobilising culture in the context of (de)colonizationDate: Tuesday 18 November
Time: 15:00-16:30 (CET)
Location: KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30 (Witte Singel 27A, Leiden) and online via Zoom
Organisation: KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
Language: English
During this seminar, the 2025-2026 NIAS-NIOD-KITLV fellows of the Fellowship Moving Objects, Mobilising Culture, will present on their research. The program includes presentations by Panggah Ardiyansyah, Leandro Mathews Cascon and Ganga Dissanayaka.
The Moving Objects, Mobilising Culture Fellowship enables researchers and heritage practitioners from formerly colonized countries to access and conduct research on (collections of) objects – whether defined as cultural, historical, ancestral, art or otherwise – which are currently (lost) in the Netherlands, as well as on related archives and documentation. This fellowship is funded by the Colonial Collections Consortium.
The fellows are invited to actively use, reflect on and engage with these collections, but are also encouraged to explore and (re-)establish connections with related communities, collections and sites in the country of origin or other countries. Fellows are encouraged to follow queries regarding the social histories and valuation of objects, in relation to or beyond questions of restitution, and to seek for the signification of objects and their trajectories in space and time, beyond the framings of heritage institutions or national histories.
HERE: Heritage Reflections 2025Date: Monday 10 November
Time: 14:00 – 17:30
Location: Wereldmuseum Amsterdam
Organisation: Mondriaan Fonds and the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam
Language: English
On 10 November 2025, the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, and the Mondriaan Fonds are organizing a new edition of HERE: Heritage Reflections 2025. HERE is a seminar for both new and experienced heritage professionals, bringing them together to stimulate knowledge exchange and innovation. This edition focuses on the theme restitution.
The program includes a plenary discussion, workshops and guided tours. During a workshop on provenance research, speakers from the Colonial Collections Consortium will guide participants through the Colonial Collections Datahub and share insights into the platform’s latest developments.
Date: Wednesday 1 October
Time: 10:00 – 17:00
Location: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, Smallepad 5, Amersfoort
Organisation: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed en Nederlandse Kastelenstichting
Voertaal: Dutch
The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) and the Dutch Foundation for Castles (NKS) are organising a meeting on the shared past and joint future of castles and country houses. Together with experts, and the audience, they explore and discuss the heritage of castles and country houses, as part of the colonial past and the past of slavery. This meeting takes place on 1 October, 2025.
During the meeting, the presence and (in)visibility of traces of the slavery past are discussed, through practical case studies and recent research counducted at country estates. Additionally, the Colonial Collections Datahub is presented as a new digital research tool. The program allows space for different perspectives on the continuation of the colonial and the slavery past, and furthermore includes performances, spoken word and poetry.
SAHRA Heritage Month 2025: International Virtual SeminarDate: Thursday 18 September 2025
Time: 09:00 – 17:00
Location: Online
Organisation: South African Heritage Resources Agency
Language: English
As part of the SAHRA Heritage Month 2025, the South African Heritage Resources Agency is hosting a series of virtual seminars. This year’s webinar, under the theme ‘Resilient Heritage: Safeguarding South Africa’s Legacy in a Changing Climate,’ takes place over four days in a fully virtual format. The program aligns with broader G20 theme of Climate Change and Resilience, reflecting the commitment to engaging with global conversations on sustainability, climate adaptation, and cultural preservation.
On 18 September, the SAHRA will in particular focus on colonial collections and restitution, during the webinar ‘Restitution of Cultural Property’, bringing together global voices to explore pathways for return, protection, and circulation of cultural heritage. This dialogue will reflect on international best practices, highlight Africa’s experiences in restitution, and consider how G20 collaboration can strengthen policy, diplomacy, and ethical stewardship to include voluntary disclosures by the host/holding countries. By engaging experts, governments, and heritage practitioners, the webinar seeks to advance a shared commitment to justice, reconciliation, and sustainable cultural heritage management.
The full programme of this virtual seminar is available below.