Timo Demollin : Visit (1883-2020) : Notes on Museumplein’s Exhibitionary Complex across Coloniality and Modernity

Produced as a supplement to the work Visit (1883–2020), 2020, in the context of the group exhibition In the Presence of Absence. Proposals for the Museum Collection, curated by Britte Sloothaak and Fadwa Naamna at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, September 5, 2020–January 31, 2021.
The International Colonial and Export Trade Exhibition of 1883 ran from May to October in the open area of Amsterdam now known as Museumplein. Timo Demollin's installation 'Visit (1883-2020)' comprises old prints of scenes from this colonial world fair, on loan from the Stedelijk library and displayed at various locations throughout the museum. Prints such as these were sold to visitors and helped sustain the Netherlands' colonial consciousness in the longer term. 'Visit (1883-2020)' investigates the symbiotic relationship between industry, cultural consumption, and exhibitions. This site-specific installation, which sees museum visitors reproducing the route taken by visitors to the world fair, emphasizes the urgency of the need for critical self-reflection and the responsibility, shared by institution and spectator alike, to actively devote attention to the history and establishment of institutions, collection policies, and knowledge structures