New grants by the Shared Cultural Heritage Matching Fund

The Matching Fund supports projects that contribute to the increased visibility of Shared Cultural Heritage. An independent Programme Council assessed a total of 17 applications received in the round of October 2019.

Successful applications:

Landmarks from a bygone era is a project developed by the Stichting Hulswit-Fermont-Cuypers and concerns the English-Indonesian edition of the book about Fermont-Cuypers architects between 1927-1957. This book was originally published in Dutch with the title “Architectuur met vlag en wimpel”. They designed and built around 100 structures in Indonesia, however, little is known about their ideas and the history and architecture of the buildings, most of which still exist. The result of this work, to be published by the Periplus Publishers in Indonesia, will be useful for those in Indonesia who deal with these buildings in the fields of, for example, restauration, cultural heritage, history and policy.

Towards a Virtual Slave Island. Contested Space and Everyday Life in Colombo is a collaborative project developed by the University of Leiden and Radboud University Nijmegen. Together with local partners, the team will map the layered history and multi-religious community of Slave Island. Slave Island is a neighbourhood in Colombo (Sri Lanka’s commercial capital) with a turbulent history, with roots that go back to the Dutch East India Company’s (VOC) occupation of the city. Ongoing urbanisation projects are rapidly changing the spatial and social fabric of Slave Island. Through an online StoryMap, narratives and images from and about its inhabitants from the 18th to 21st century will be made available for local citizens, heritage organisations and tourists.

Through its project Indian perspectives on the textile trade between India and the Netherlands, Textiel Factorij will take 28 artworks, inspired by chintz and Dutch regional costumes, to India in 2020. The artworks, created by Dutch and Indian designers, artists and crafts(wo)men, will be exhibited in two exhibitions from an Indian perspective. Textiel Factorij is a research project focused on the shared heritage between India and the Netherlands, and the history of the textile trade between the two countries during the 17th and 18th centuries. Textiel Factorij will work with the Conflictorium in Ahmedabad and the Kochi Biennial/Muziris Heritage Project in Kochi, because of the century-old textile trade relationship and the traces that the VOC has left behind in these cities.

Tolin Alexander (Stichting Forum Tolin Toli Masanga) was invited from June 2020 onwards as Artist in Resident at the Plein Theater in Amsterdam, where he will work on a cultural heritage research with artistic director Berith Danse. This project, titled Zwarte Gat / Gouden Eeuw (Black Hole / Golden Age), will work around the concept of “black hole” which works as a metaphor for an immense concealed past. This principle forms the basis of the artistic concept of this project that will culminate in a theatrical installation about an underexposed part of the Dutch Slavery past and present, namely that concerning Maroon culture. The installation will focus on the role and knowledge of the Maroon culture of rituals, dance, music and design. It will be presented at the Plein Theater, and the Keti Koti and Kwaku festivals in Amsterdam. It is hoped that the installation will also be presented in Suriname.

Barend Barends, a “half-Hottentot Dutchman”, was one of the most important leaders along the turbulent northern frontier of the Cape Colony, from 1790 to 1839. He was the “Kapteyn” of the Griqua clan, one of South Africa’s indigenous groups. His role in South African history has been virtually forgotten, partly because the oral traditions of the Griquas have dwindled, because Barends was never included in the school curricula, and because he was not succeeded by a son who could continue the dynasty. This project, named Barend Barends, de vergeten kaptein van Danielskuil (The forgotten captain of Danielskuil), will bring Barends’ material and intangible heritages to the fore, for all South Africans. Together with other partners, the Stiching Zuid-Afrikahuis Nederland will work with the South African Karoo Development Foundation. In the Netherlands, where the knowledge of South African history is more limited, the partners aim to host thematic displays about the Barends Griquas.

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