Through recent collaborations with KITLV, Theo has explored ways of engaging artistically with collections from colonial contexts. From a photographic archive depicting baboe in Pematang Siantar to a Batak wooden staff called tunggal panaluan, each encounter led him to recalibrate the notion of artistic practice itself. Rather than making artworks about archives or collections, he approaches the act of making as a potential site in which established modes of institutional meaning-making can be temporarily suspended.

This seminar will explore these encounters and reflect on the capacity of painterly gestures to sustain a particular affective register, showing how—like a flood—the past leaks into the present without resolution.

Speaker

Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat is an artist and lecturer in Integrated Arts at Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, Bandung. He completed his studies in the Master of Fine Arts program at FSRD–ITB. In 2023, he completed a residency at Atelier KITLV, where his project titled Anonim explored domestic workers during the Dutch East Indies period as recorded in KITLV photographic archives. In 2025, he completed a fellowship at NIAS–NIOD–KITLV with a project titled Reimagining Tunggal Panaluan, which explores Batak datu staffs widely held in both institutional and private collections in the Netherlands.

Discussant

Emily Shin-Jie Lee is a cultural practitioner and researcher based in Amsterdam. Her work is often realised through discursive formats involving multiple interlocutors. She studied anthropology at National Taiwan University and obtained her research master’s degree in art studies from the University of Amsterdam. Emily currently works at Framer Framed as head of research with a focus on residencies and cross-institutional collaborations.

Moderator

Sikko Visscher, trained as an historian and social scientist, work at KITLV as a research advisor and liaison officer. He is also a board member and Secretary of the Vereniging (Member Association) KITLV.

Format, date, time & venue

This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in the conference room of KITLV, Herta Mohr building, room 1.30, Witte Singel 27 A, Leiden and online via Zoom, on Thursday 12 February from 15.30–17.00 PM (CET).  

Anniversary Seminar Series

In 2026, KITLV will celebrate its 175th anniversary. The Members’ Association / Vereniging KITLV and the Institute KITLV are organizing an Anniversary Seminar Series to mark the occasion.

In the Anniversary Seminar Series, we invite people who have worked at KITLV in the past 25 years, visited us as fellows, or have been involved in joint research projects. Naturally, we strive to cover our wide range of disciplines, topics, and backgrounds. We invite speakers to present current or recent research to an audience of academics and others who are interested. Reflections on whether and how the connection with KITLV has led to or influenced that research are welcome. To cater to an international audience, the series will be in English and can be attended both physically and digitally.

Image

Artwork - Theo Frids Marulitua Hutabarat (2025).

Flyer

PDF format (A3 poster)