28 Jun 2026
28 Jun 2026
The Willet-Holthuysen House
Keti Koti at the Amsterdam Museum
To mark Keti Koti, the Amsterdam Museum is organising an extensive programme of talks, workshops and performances on 28 June. Keti Koti at the Amsterdam Museum centres on sharing historical and contemporary (personal) stories relating to the history of slavery, as we commemorate, reflect and celebrate. We focus on the impact of this past on the present, whilst looking to the future. The focus is on the resilience of enslaved people and the rich cultural heritage of the African diaspora in Amsterdam, which has been passed down from generation to generation, despite centuries of slavery and colonial oppression.
Date: Sunday 28 June
Time: 14.00 – 17.00
Venue: The Willet-Holthuysen House
Language: Dutch
Price: Free
Programme
What does it mean to commemorate our history of slavery and celebrate Keti Koti when, as the younger generation, we are becoming increasingly detached from that history? And what is the role of Huis Willet Holthuysen, a building with a colonial and slavery past?
During this programme, we will explore – together with various speakers and artists – the role of the younger generation as we become increasingly culturally fragmented, through talks, performances and a one-day exhibition of works inspired by the house, created by two young ‘house-wanderers’ who have been exploring the house’s past in relation to our present.
14:00 Doors open
14:15 Opening remarks by Lola Bessa
14:20 Talk | ‘Shared Past’ with Phaedra Haringsma, Dolores Leeuwin, Thijs Boers and Lola Bessa
14:45 Reading by Martje Onikoyi
14:55 Musical interlude by Sites of Memory
15:00 Presentation Huisdwalers by Yfke Beijer and Bete van Meeuwen
15:15 Ongoing ‘countermapping’ workshop with artist Jan Rothuizen
15:30 Drinks
17:30 Closing remarks
Huisdwalers
From its colonial and slavery past to its history of resistance: the house of Abraham Willet and Louisa Holthuysen has been through a great deal. What feelings, thoughts and visual images linger with us when we visit a historic building? After an evening spent wandering through Huis Willet Holthuysen, young artists Bete van Meeuwen and Yfke Beijer were given a month to work on a creative interpretation of their experience of the house. They are using what they gathered there to create a work, intervention or event which they will present on 28 June. On this day, their work will be on continuous display at Huis Willet Holthuysen.
Living History Talk
History does not stand still; it continues to shape our present every day. How do you make space for commemorating and celebrating our past, which is becoming increasingly distant from us? And what does it mean that we are becoming increasingly fragmented culturally? By reflecting together on the colonial and slavery history of Huis Willet Holthuysen and asking how we, as the younger generation, wish to commemorate and celebrate, we make room for new perspectives on a rich and varied past.
Join the discussion with journalist and writer Phaedra Haringsma, whose collection of short stories *Verdronken Vrijheid* (Drowned Freedom) gives voice to indigenous stories, presenter and actress Dolores Leeuwin, whose ancestors have a colonial and slavery history linked to Huis Willet Holthuysen, and Amsterdam Museum curator Thijs Boers, who has researched the colonial and slavery history of Huis Willet Holthuysen and is exploring what this means for the house today.
Lecture ‘Returning the Gaze, Sites of Memory’
In the run-up to the forthcoming transhistorical exhibition on presence, absence and the legacy of the colonial and slavery past behind Huis Willet-Holthuysen, there will be a talk by Sites of Memory, who are developing a special edition of the installation *A Conversation with the Past for the Future* as part of the new exhibition.
Ongoing Countermapping Workshop
Maps reflect underlying power dynamics. ‘Countermapping’ can empower people and be used to give a voice to marginalised groups. This ongoing workshop provides a space for participants to collaboratively create alternative maps that help marginalised groups achieve their goals.
Upcoming exhibition
The project ‘Plantage aan de gracht: verhalen van mens en macht’ explores the intertwining of the lives of the residents of an Amsterdam canal-side house with the city’s colonial and slavery past. Not as a closed chapter from the past, but as a reality that continues to have an impact in the present. The starting point is curator Thijs Boers’ research into Huis Willet-Holthuysen and its 18th-century residents, who acquired their wealth partly through colonial trade. Willem Deutz and Frederik Berewout were at the very foundation of the financial and commercial structures that shaped the colonial system: they embodied the financial arrangements and the capitalisation of colonial exploitation. Building on this research, a polyphonic exhibition unfolds in which historical objects are interwoven with works by contemporary artists, thereby bringing to light the forgotten lives, labour and suffering of those enslaved on the plantations in the West Indies.
During this exhibition, The Willet-Holthuysen House becomes a place that invites visitors to listen to what the walls still remember and to recognise that history does not end at the threshold of the present, but continues to unfold in the way we look, live and coexist. This exhibition opens in October 2026.