Review of 2023
Dear reader,
What a year we have behind us! From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you all warmly for the incredible effort, dedication and support we have been able to experience in 2023. It is with that great gratitude that I look back on the steps we have taken to bring our museum collection, which was scattered across various parts of the Netherlands, even better together. That was the goal, a little more than twelve months ago. We opened the year with the exhibition 'Afgestoft – membuka tambo lama' and in this final quarter we presented you with the exhibition 'Uitgepakt – van kist naar kast'.
A special word of thanks goes to the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and the municipal Museum Depot in Rotterdam for the museum space and support. With funding from the Mondriaan Fund and the efforts of our entire team we worked hard behind the scenes to make this dream come true. It is a real high point to see how our collection is now more united than ever before. In this last week of the year we found an additional space in Rotterdam where our archive had already been placed. Now collection items are joining it. Thanks in particular to the team of volunteers from Capelle aan den IJssel. A great word of thanks too to all our partners, such as the Drents Museum, the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, Moluks Erfgoed, all the residents and organisations at Museum Sophiahof, the board of Museum Maluku and, not least, all the volunteers and donors.
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An important turning point in our success story was the structural funding we received from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport from the beginning of 2022 until the end of 2024 under the Collective Recognition scheme. With this solid basis we made various project applications for grants, with remarkable results. The support of Cultuurloket DigitALL cleared the way for groundbreaking projects, such as starting the Moluccan language project, Totaal Moluks – follow them, it is going to be a real game changer. Our application to the Vfonds concerning intangible heritage was likewise granted, and we cannot wait to share the results with you in the coming year.
Our collaboration with Maluku has borne fruit as well. In 2024 we are organising workshops together with Museum Siwa Lima with local artists from the Netherlands and the Moluccas, made possible by Dutch Culture. You can also expect new exhibitions by a new crop of Moluccan artists, who will share their reflections on colonisation and decolonisation with us. And that is really the thrust of this end-of-year piece.
As museum director I have been thinking deeply about our role in a world where wars and conflicts are still taking place, with colonisation and occupation an everyday reality. I think of Gaza. How do we as a museum relate to these events, especially when our collection is directly connected to colonisation and occupation? The answer is clear: we must be actively engaged, take a position of common humanity and not stay silent. So in 2024 you will hear from Museum Maluku on that too. And precisely in that light I wish you a beautiful and peaceful end to the year, but one in which we realise that freedom cannot be taken for granted.
With loving regards,
Henry Timisela
