Zooming In / Zooming Out: On Colonial Monuments

Venue: University of Antwerp, Campus Middelheim, Block A, Middelheimlaan 1, 2020 Antwerp

Participants: Mohamed Barrie, Bambi Ceuppens, Sandrine Colard, Herman Van Goethem, Bie Michels, Sorana Munsya, Aminata Ndow, Matthew Stanard, Sara Weyns

Convened and moderated by: Samuel Saelemakers, together with Pieter Boons

What does it mean today to have our public space lined with historical monuments commemorating the colonial regime and the individuals that instated it?

What are the possible artistic, institutional, and societal strategies for dealing with this contested heritage?
How do we begin addressing the blind spots surrounding these monuments, and how do we develop meaningful future (dis)engagements with these and other troubled heritage collections?

Prompted by these questions, from 2020 onwards the Middelheim Museum is initiating a series of projects on (Belgian) colonial history and the related monuments that to this day adorn the streets of Antwerp. As a part of the city’s policy to study and make accessible the meaning and history of its public heritage, the Middelheim Museum has recently begun to develop a forward looking and ambitious plan for the public art collection, including the documentation, conservation, and expansion of this municipal collection. First in this series is Zooming In / Zooming Out: On Colonial Monuments, a symposium gathering scholars, artists and cultural workers to reflect upon historical attitudes, healing gestures, artists’ responses, and institutional choices.

The symposium is introduced by Sara Weyns, Director of the Middelheim Museum, and Herman Van Goethem, Dean of the University of Antwerp.

The day’s keynote lecture, titled Past Empire Present: A history of Belgium’s attitude towards colonial monuments from 1960 to today, is delivered by Berry College Professor Matthew Stanard, author of The Leopard, the Lion, and the Cock. Colonial Memories and Monuments in Belgium (2019, Leuven University Press).

Psychologist, writer, and independent curator Sorana Munsya is invited to reflect upon the subjects of Healing and Heritage.

Addressing the importance of language, inclusion, and signage, artist Bie Michels, together with Middelheim Museum Exhibitions Curator Pieter Boons, talks about her recent project in which she responds to the 1953 colonial monument by sculptor Lode Eyckermans currently standing in Mechelen, Belgium. The Copy (2019), a replica of Eyckermans’ monument made by Michels, but featuring an alternative, collectively drafted text, will be on view in the University’s entrance hall throughout the day of the symposium.

Sandrine Colard, Assistant Professor of Art History at Rutgers University-Newark, and Artistic Director of the 2019 Lubumbashi Biennale, talks about postcolonial traces and commemoration in contemporary art practices. Colard is also guest curator of the forthcoming exhibition Congoville at Middelheim Museum, opening on June 13, 2020.

Senior Researcher and Curator at the Belgian Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Bambi Ceuppens discusses this symbolically and politically charged institution, “Belgium’s largest colonial monument.”

Wrapping up the program is a plenary debate, set in motion by Aminata Ndow and Mohamed Barrie, co-organisers of Black History Month Belgium 2020.

The day’s program is moderated by Samuel Saelemakers, Curator of the Public Art Collection (Kunst in de Stad), Middelheim Museum.

A forthcoming critical write-up of the symposium has been commissioned to writer and curator Vincent van Velsen. This text will be made public soon after the symposium via the Middelheim Museum’s communication channels.

The symposium is part of Black History Month Belgium 2020.

Please note: the symposium is fully booked.