Past Work

Changing Practice in Amsterdam

Changing Practice in Amsterdam was developed as an undergraduate research project. It is a proposal for public art spending aimed at the Gemeente van Amsterdam that bridges the gap between cultural heritage and colonialism. The project makes the case that meaningful engagement with Amsterdam's colonial past requires not just institutional acknowledgement, but a sustained, community-led artistic response.

At the centre of the proposal is artist Cat Auburn (she/her), whose multidisciplinary practice interrogates the construction and reinforcement of cultural heritage across a range of media. Auburn was selected for her existing body of work in this area, and specifically in response to her 2019 piece Changing Practice — a work in which she turns a critically reflexive eye on her own artistic process, examining the ways it participates in and perpetuates colonial narratives. This self-awareness was central to the selection: rather than an artist who would impose an external perspective onto Amsterdam's communities, the proposal prioritised someone whose practice is rooted in listening, collaboration, and taking direction from local spaces and people.

The project engages with the ongoing cultural and ethical questions surrounding stolen heritage objects held in Amsterdam's institutions, situating them within the broader legacy of Dutch colonialism. It argues that public art has a role to play not only in memorialisation, but in actively reshaping the narratives that surround these objects, and that this reshaping must be led by those most affected.

Though unrealised, Changing Practice in Amsterdam was a formative project. It deepened my understanding of the ethical responsibilities that accompany curatorial work, particularly when operating in spaces where art intersects with trauma, community ownership, and historical injustice. It also sharpened my skills in research, proposal writing, and thinking through what genuine collaboration between institutions and local communities might look like in practice.