Pressing Matter
Ownership, Value and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums
Pressing Matter investigates the potentialities of ‘colonial objects’ to support societal reconciliation with the colonial past and its afterlives, and to deal with conflicting claims by different stakeholders for these objects within museums. The project will develop and test new modes and models of ownership, value and return that may enable more equitable futures.
Boilerplate
Pressing Matter is a four-year international research programme about colonial heritage and its legacies, financed by the Dutch National Science Agenda (NWA) and coordinated from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Partners are the National Museum of World Cultures, Museum Bronbeek, Museum Vrolik, Rijksmuseum, the museums of Utrecht University and Groningen University, Foundation Academic Heritage and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Societal partners are Imagine IC, The Black Archives, HAPIN Papua Support Foundation, the Rijksacademie, Framer Framed and the Peace Palace Library, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the
Netherlands and DutchCulture.
Brief
Design a logo and visual style that can be used for all our external communication. In tackling the brief we had to look at the idea of urgent business and the idea of the material past, colonial collections, pressing upon us in the present. Pressing Matter is a project that wants to push beyond the current debates and move towards real impact and change in museums and society.
Concept: The connection between the past and the present
The Dutch had colonies all over the world [Indonesia, Dutch Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Formosa (Taiwan), Malacca, Deshima, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa, The Americas, Dutch West Indies, Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, Virgin Islands and Tobago] by connecting all these territories on the map we reveal the folds of history while having Netherlands as the pivot in the decisions.
Concept: The connection between the past and the present
The Dutch had colonies all over the world [Indonesia, Dutch Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Formosa (Taiwan), Malacca, Deshima, Iran, Pakistan, South Africa, The Americas, Dutch West Indies, Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, Virgin Islands and Tobago] by connecting all these territories on the map we reveal the folds of history while having Netherlands as the pivot in the decisions.
Visual language: The visual language is inspired by some of the colonial objects taken from all over the world by the Dutch.
Credits:
Client: Vrije University Amsterdam
Design: @Mam'gobozi Design Factory
Animation: @Hustle&Funk