History - Memory - Commemoration

The Netherlands Institute in Morocco (NIMAR) and the Embassy of the Netherlands, in cooperation with the Moroccan Cinémathèque and the RIWANUA cultural center in Indonesia, are organizing an exclusive screening of "History - Memory - Commemoration: JAVA" directed by the Dutch artist Hans van Houwelingen and Indonesian artists Mirwan Andan and Iswanto Hartono.

Filmmakers and artists Hans van Houwelingen and Mirwan Andan will also be present to discuss their film with the audience.

????️ Date: Monday, February 26, 2024
???? Time: 6:00 PM
???? Venue: Cinéma 7éme Art
???? Please fill in the form to receive your invitation: https://docs.google.com/.../1FVW0YOUh-7G4xds0M.../prefill

Synopsis:
The project History - Memory - Commemoration is a long-term collaboration between Dutch artist Hans van Houwelingen and Iswanto Hartono and Mirwan Andan, of the Indonesian artists' collective Ruangrupa. Together they are making seven films about specific locations in relation to the colonial history of the Netherlands and Indonesia: Java, Aceh, Nias, the Netherlands, Moluccas, Sulawesi and Papua. JAVA is the first film in the series, recorded in Jakarta. What influence do location, family, politics, religion, education, historiography and fashion have on how history is remembered? How is it passed on to future generations? What history is commemorated? This film series sets aside a one-sided view and shows the wide variety of significances within one shared colonial history.
Leitmotif in this project are the Van Heutsz monument in Amsterdam, renamed as the Indië-Nederland monument, and the Van Heutsz monument in Jakarta, demolished in 1953. After the independence of Indonesia, president Sukarno ordered almost all colonial statues to be demolished and streets to be renamed. Looking forward, the past had to be quickly forgotten. In the Netherlands, colonial memorials were preserved and became controversial. What does the presence or absence of these monuments mean? How do people commemorate in the absence of memorials or in the presence of controversial statues? Perhaps it's time to change the traditional protocols of commemoration?