15 February: Conference presentation by Laurie Kalb Cosmo, "Accommodating New Expressions and an Increasing Public Commitment to Art: The Emergence of Museums of Modern Art in the Netherlands" for Panel on "Presenting Contemporary Art in Museums, ca. 1880-1930: Temporary Exhibitions, Institutional Networks and Collecting,” at 113 Annual College Art Association, New York, NY USA.

15 January: Public Lecture by Laurie Kalb Cosmo, “Liberation and Creativity: Jewish Artists and Philanthropists in Rome Between 1870 and 1938” at Museum Casa di Goethe Rome, in association with exhibition Max Liebermann: An Impressionist from Berlin.

6 December: Contributors Meeting for Edited Volume on Modern Museums in the 1930s Netherlands. Moderated by Prof. dr. Kitty Zijlmans (Emeritus Leiden University).

22 November: Roman Museum Legacies – Dialogue with dott.ssa Francesca Cappelletti, director of the Galleria Borghese. Moderated by Laurie Kalb Cosmo. KNIR (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome/Royal Dutch Institute in Rome). https://www.knir.it/en/evenementen/roman-museum-legacies-dialogue-with-dott-ssa-francesca-cappelletti-director-of-the-galleria-borghese/

3-9 November: MA Museum Studies Excursion to the NIKI (Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut/Netherlands Interuniversity Institute for Art History) for the course Museums of the Future: Ethics, Responsibilities, and Practices (with funding from Leiden University Study Abroad).

18 September: Roman Museum Legacies – Dialogue with Francesco Stocchi, Artistic Director of MAXXI. Moderated by Laurie Kalb Cosmo. KNIR (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome/Royal Dutch Institute in Rome). https://www.knir.it/en/evenementen/roman-museum-legacies-dialogue-with-francesco-stocchi-artistic-director-of-maxxi/

28 May: Roman Museum Legacies – Dialogue with Andrea Viliani, Director of the Museo delle Civiltà. Moderated by Laurie Kalb Cosmo. KNIR (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome/Royal Dutch Institute in Rome). https://www.knir.it/en/evenementen/roman-museum-legacies-andrea-viliani/

*The museum history research conducted in Rome by Museum Lab Director Dr. Laurie Kalb Cosmo has been sponsored by a two-year (2023/2025) Museum Fellowship at the KNIR (Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut Rome/Royal Dutch Institute in Rome ).

Transnational histories through historical and present-day interpretations of the Hindeloopen rooms, by Dr. Susanne Boersma

This study locates artefacts from the Hindeloopen rooms in different museums and studies the presented and known contexts of these unique objects. What do we know about the context in which the object was collected? What was and is the role of these artefacts in the different museums? What can we learn from the journey of the artefacts and their materials? And how are the different histories of these artefacts and museums possibly intertwined? Following these questions, this study assembles an overview of the Hindeloopen rooms and sheds light on the history of museum collections and their relation to local, national and global histories.

​​​​​​​MA Thesis: A 20th Century Stone Age Colonial Collection in the Wereldmuseum Leiden: The ‘Franssen Collection’ and its Biography, by Raphaël Gerssen

This thesis focuses on a collection of almost 1500 polished stone artefacts from Indonesia, amassed by Dr. Caspar Franssen during the twentieth century. It attempts to unravel the biography of this collection, about which little is known to date. In doing so, Gerssen will address questions around the curation crisis, orphaned collections, colonial networks in Indonesia, and the urge to collect.

ResMA Thesis: Staging ‘Wonder Trouble’ in Museums, by Margot Stoppels

This dual thesis in MA Museum Studies and ResMA Arts, Literature and Media concerns the prominence of wonder in contemporary museums and the ‘experience economy’. Within the framework of ‘wonder trouble’, Stoppels works on the intersection of museums and theatre, situating the various theatrics of wonder within their ethical and political implications for museums and their visitors.​​​​​​​

BA Thesis: Restitution Beyond Materiality: The Struggle of Mexican Identity and the Dispossession of Moctezuma’s Headdress, by Sabina González Cosío Hagerman

This thesis delves into the restitution debate of Moctezuma’s Headdress as a case study to analyze the convergence of cultural heritage, identity, and post-colonial power dynamics in the museum. The study examines failed restitution claims through museum studies and legal perspectives, addressing the imperialist legacy that permeates Western cultural institutions. It also explores the role of the Headdress in settling Mexico’s Indigenous and mestizo identities, revealing some of the complications within the nation’s broken decolonization process.