The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is renowned world wide for its art collection, with the seventeenth century at its heart, featuring Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals. As many European national museums built in the 19th century, its focus has been on the pride and glory of the Netherlands. Still, the 17th century is also the century of the foundation of the Dutch East India and West India Companies.

How does a Dutch museum re-invent itself to align with new insights and societal changes? How are the museum field and research focuses and policies changing? In her talk, Valika Smeulders will be reflecting on the work the museum has been doing in recent years, and looking forward into the coming years.

Speaker

Dr. Valika Smeulders was appointed professor by special appointment of Museums, Heritage, and Religion at the University of Groningen in 2024. Since 2020, she has been head of the History Department at the Rijksmuseum, where she previously worked as curator on the exhibition Slavery (Amsterdam 2021, New York 2023). Her specializations are the presentation of the colonial past, museum collections, their social relevance, and provenance research. She was a member of the Advisory Committee on the National Policy Framework for Colonial Collections and is now a member of the Colonial Collections Consortium steering group and the advisory committee on colonial provenance in the Royal Collections. She is also a board and dissertation committee member of Praemium Erasmianum and a board member of the Libris History Prize. Valika studied in Leiden and Mexico, obtained her PhD from Erasmus University (2012), and was a postdoctoral researcher at the KITLV.

Moderator

Dr. 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 Member Association (Vereniging) 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 15 January from 15.30–17.00 PM (CET).  With drinks afterwards!

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

Collection Rijksmuseum: Portrait Toussaint L’Ouverture, Missing Title, and Portrait van Raden Syarif Bustaman Saleh.

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