On 14 September 2023 Beyond Walls, BUROBRAAK, Van Gisteren and artists Fre Calmes, Nicky Saliha, Jerrold Saija and Gigi van Grevenbroek launched OOSTCAST - Straatnamen Indische Buurt.

Javastraat, Ambonplein, Sumatraplantsoen. These are just a few examples of street names in the ‘Indische Buurt’ in Amsterdam East. But did you know that they refer to an archipelago that is roughly 46 times the size of the Netherlands?

The Indische Buurt is home to numerous street names that are named after islands and regions in and around Indonesia. These names were given in the early 20th century when Indonesia was still under Dutch colonial occupation, known as the Dutch East Indies. Some of the street names still retain their colonial names. For instance, the island of Celebes is actually named Sulawesi, and the capital of Indonesia is no longer Batavia but Jakarta. This archipelago has a rich history with many cultures, languages, and ways of life. Long before the arrival of the Dutch and other European colonial powers, societies with Kingdoms and Sultanates thrived, global trade and cultural exchange flourished.

What are the stories behind these street names we all move through daily? Find out through the Walking Tour, an exhibition and podcast! Go to OOSCAST.

The short films from the poetry film series 'Read Our Colonial Heritage,' featuring Joshua Timisela, Manuwi C. Tokai, Kevin Groen and Nisrine Mbarki, are now online from August 31st! Check out our special page with all the films and more background info.

LECTURE PERFORMANCE BY BEYOND WALLS
20 AUGUST TARRAWARRA MUSEUM OF ART, HEALESVILLE

Beyond Walls is invited to give a performance lecture at TarraWarra Museum of Art, Healesville (Melbourne), Australia. We are excited and honored to present ‘REMEMBER THE SOIL: Diasporic Perspectives on Soils’ A lecture-performance by Beyond Walls . With Glenda Pattipeilohy, Jeremy Flohr, Suzanne Rastovac and Armando Ello.

Though our historical and contemporary trajectories may differ, coloniality and modernity have disrupted humans’ connection to soils. Yet, it is not lost, erased or forgotten, unless we stop remembering who we are.

Commencing with REMEMBER THE SOIL at TarraWarra Museum of Art, Beyond Walls will unfold their practice as a diasporic collective situated in the Netherlands, collaborating with both institutions and communities. The Amsterdam-based collective shares their perspectives on soils through a diasporic lens and connects their positionality to the bigger story of resisting colonial erasures through research, storytelling and art. By delving into their individual as well as collective connections to soils and fostering active participation, Beyond Walls aims to connect to peoples and their stories in Australia.

Other speakers are Charles Esche, Director, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands; and Dr Victoria Lynn, Director, TarraWarra Museum of Art; and Dr Michelle Antoinette, Senior Lecturer and Researcher at Monash University.

On 7 July 2023, Dr. Tamara Soukotta defended her thesis on segregation and relational peacebuilding in Ambon with succes. As Beyond Walls we are proud to have Dr. Tamara as our board member and congratulate her with her succes!

In her thesis, Tamara Soukotta argues that (religious) segregation in Ambon put in place under the Dutch colonial administration and is sustained-maintained throughout the (post)colonial history of Ambon to the present time is coloniality of power manifested.

Nonetheless, relational peacebuilding-cultivating as practised by peace initiatives in Ambon has been the way to recover what was erased by coloniality. In other words, relational peacebuilding in Ambon is decoloniality in praxis.

THE SOILS PROJECT: an international research and exhibition project between Indonesia, Australia and The Netherlands

Beyond Walls is a fellow partner in The Soils Project: an experimental research and exhibition project organized by Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, TarraWarra Museum of Art near Melbourne and Struggles for Sovereignty based in Jogjakarta. Together with fellow artists, writers and academics, the team will build the Soils Project as an investigative process into how art can offer ways of promoting well-being in the context of exploitation and colonization.

Beyond Walls has been invited to give a lecture at TarraWarra and a series of workshops at Monash University in august 2023.

An artistic throwback to the amazing artworks by Fré Calmes as part of our multidisciplinary project OOSTCAST. A collab by Beyond Walls, The Black Archives, BUROBRAAK, Van Gisteren and Fré Calmes. OOSTCAST highlights the ever present stories of anti-colonial resistance and resilience related to colonial street names in Amsterdam East. It shines a critical light on these street names through education, storytelling and art. Artist Fré dove into the stories in Amsterdam Old East and created artistic reflections.

Fré: “Street names are important due to their everyday nature. They can evoke memories of both happy and unfortunate times. Since I've been living in the Netherlands, street names have taken on a different meaning for me. They are named after men who held a negative perception of my African ancestors. In this exhibition, I want to show how I now perceive these streets and buildings.”

📌🖼Tomorrow all these amazing artworks will be part of an exhibition in Hotel Arena, Amsterdam.