In 2023, the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden presented the temporary exhibition Kemet. Egypt in hip-hop, jazz, soul & funk, which explored how Black musicians have interpreted and reimagined ancient Egypt in their work. The exhibition attracted attention from nationalist groups in Egypt, who flooded the museum’s social media channels with negative comments.
Daniel Soliman, curator of the museum’s Egyptian and Nubian collection, will discuss the events following the online controversy. These included demands from Egyptian authorities to remove certain elements from the exhibition and to change its promotional poster. When the museum declined to comply, Egypt revoked the museum’s permission for archaeological fieldwork at Saqqara.
The exhibition Time for Papua in the Wereldmuseum was the result of researching the collection of almost 50000 objects originating from western New Guinea, collaborations with Dutch Papuan community members and Papuans in New Guinea. While the exhibition team tried to give a balanced view of the cultural history of Papua, the organisers were also acutely aware of the different positions regarding Papuan history, among other the stance taken by Indonesia, of which Papua is a part. In this discussion, curator Wonu Veys will highlight ways of dealing with these differences and disagreements.
In 2019, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave became a target of environmental action groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Earth Strike. They protested against the collaboration of the museum with Shell and the exposure the museum gave to this multinational. Curator Ad Maas will unravel what happened by means of an object from the collection, an oli-sample, that came to symbolize changing perspectives on fossil fuels.