Course
Rethinking the Wereldmuseum Leiden through Indigeneity and Contemporary Art
- Date
- Monday 31 March 2025
- Series
- Museum Lab workshops
- Location
- Wereldmuseum Leiden
What does it mean to be Indigenous in today’s world?
The Wereldmuseum in Leiden is rethinking its permanent exhibition to address this question. Currently, artefacts are displayed by geographical region, reflecting early Eurocentric anthropology. This approach, still common in ethnographic museums despite criticism, dates back to the 1990s and highlights differences, creating a divide between “us” and “them.” As the museum prepares a new display with a thematic focus instead of a geographical one, it is exploring the idea of indigeneity and its role in contemporary art. Here, indigeneity refers to cultural, legal, and knowledge systems tied to specific places or people, as well as the impacts of settler-colonialism. The museum aims to explore this concept and its relevance to current debates and contemporary art for its diverse audiences.
In this workshop, students will work with curator Wonu Veys to research for this exhibition. By examining objects from the museum’s collection and studying contemporary art by Indigenous artists, students will explore different definitions of indigeneity. In pairs, they will create a proposal for an exhibition that includes selected objects, at least one contemporary artwork, and an exhibition text.