Reforming Remembrance

Dutch artist Hans van Houwelingen will reflect on his ongoing research on commemorative monuments. Apart from the hardware of monuments, he explores how to reform the practice of commemoration itself. Van Houwelingen and the Indonesian artist Iswanto Hartono (Ruangrupa) are currently collaborating on a research project to investigate both the presence and the absence of monuments in colonial locations. Among his case studies are monuments in Indonesia removed after 1945 Independence. The Van Heutsz monument in Jakarta, designed by the Dutch architect Willem Marinus Dudok, was destroyed just after the Independence of Indonesia. Meanwhile, the Van Heutsz monument in Amsterdam exists today as the Indie Nederland Monument. These and other monuments enter into the discussion of commemoration and its erasure.

Bio: Hans van Houwelingen (Harlingen 1957) attended Minerva Art Academy in Groningen (Netherlands) and at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. His work is manifested in the form of interventions projects in public space, exhibitions, films, lectures and publications, in which he investigates the relations between art, culture and politics. He publishes regularly in newspapers and magazines. The monograph STIFF Hans van Houwelingen vs. Public Art (Artimo, 2004) offers an overview of his projects and texts and an extensive reflection on his work. The publication Update describes the permanent update of the Lorentzmonument in Arnhem (NL) during the exhibition Sonsbeek 2008. In 2011 Undone (Jap Sam Books 2011) was published, presenting nine critical reflections on three recent works. In 1988 Van Houwelingen won a Prix de Rome prize. He received The Queen Wilhelminaring oeuvre award in 2013. Since 2015 he is an honorary member of the Academy van Arts from the Royal Akademy of Science (KNAW). Hans van Houwelingen lives and works in Berlin and Amsterdam.

Organized by the Committee on Equity, Department of History of Art and co-sponsored by the Museum Studies Program. Kristin Hass (Associate Professor of American Culture and Faculty Coordinator of the Humanities Collaboratory) to moderate.