Close Up 9.4 Expo: Not My Knowledge
A collaboration between VOX-POP’s Close-Up team and Allard Pierson Special Collections
- Start date
- 11 June 2026
- End date
- 2 July 2026
- Location
- BG 3
- Room
- VOX-POP
From 11 June to 2 July, VOX-POP will be transformed into a space for reflecting on the concept of knowledge. Not My Knowledge is an exhibition hosted by the Close Up team in collaboration with Allard Pierson and in dialogue with Allard Pierson’s exhibition Not My Soul: On Slavery, Law and Freedom.
While knowledge institutes like museums and universities often center archival materials, these very archives are built on silences concerning the lived realities of the non-Western ‘other'. Colonial archives were never created to capture the perspectives and knowledge systems of enslaved people.
Moving beyond Eurocentric narratives on colonialism, the featured artworks demonstrate how knowledge lives on through non-academic forms: in storytelling, the body, rituals, and memory. Simultaneously, the exhibition reflects on the structures that determine which forms of knowledge are recognized within institutions, while the student curators openly acknowledge their own position within these systems.
Context programmes
June 11 | Opening programme | VOX-POP, 17:00 - 20:00
June 30 | Painting workshop by Gabriela Akyea | VOX-POP, 17:00 - 19:00
July 1 | Keti Koti dialogue table Central Diversity Office | CREA, 10:30 - 13:00
July 1| Keti Koti programme Not My Archive | Allard Pierson, 13:00 - 16:00
July 2 | Finissage | VOX-POP, 17:00 - 20:00
Artists
In my artistic practice, I explore how colonial histories continue to shape contemporary forms of representation, identity, and social structures. I aim to uncover hidden narratives, question historical and cultural misrepresentations, and create counter-narratives. Themes such as racism, gender, and collective memory frequently emerge in my work. As a person of colour, I find it essential to make our lived experiences visible, often drawing from my Surinamese-Dutch background.
Lana trained in ballet from the age of four and later studied at ArtEZ Dance Academy and École Atelier Rudra Béjart, where she focused on classical ballet and Graham technique. She danced with Ballet Preljocaj Junior in Aix-en-Provence and now works as a freelance dancer, including with Reframing Herstory Art Foundation, and as a curator at the National Slavery Museum.
Yanira graduated from the Dance Teacher programme at the Amsterdam University of the Arts in 2019. She works as a dancer, theatre maker and choreographer, creating work with young people around social issues such as peer pressure, domestic violence and hierarchy. Her practice also explores her cultural background, particularly Winti traditions within Surinamese culture.
Nyata Collective consists of Asha Victoria and Amber Zara van den Pangaard, multidisciplinary artists based in Arnhem and Rotterdam. Both graduated from Graphic Design at ArtEZ Arnhem in July 2025. Through collaborative textile processes, they explore social topics and embodied forms of knowledge, including heritage, memory, dreams, and daily experience. Their practice turns personal stories into interwoven threads of knowledge, centring community building and reciprocity.
I am Gabriela Akyea a Ghanaian-Dutch self taught artist, creative freelancer and educator working at the intersection of art, education, and social impact. Based in Amsterdam Zuidoost, I create and teach with a focus on identity, connection, and the themes of life. In my studio and in my workshops from my project Our Treasures I use art to explore questions that connect us at the core. Where I may see a full stop, someone else might see a comma or an exclamation mark, adding to the story. That is where my work lives: creating space for different perspectives to exist side by side, where dialogue can naturally unfold.
Mirjam Linschooten is a Dutch visual artist based in Amsterdam. Her multidisciplinary practice spans publication, film, installation, photography, collage, and writing. Often working collaboratively, she explores the visible and hidden legacies of colonial histories. By questioning how memory and history are shaped, her work offers alternative viewpoints, counter-narratives, and space for critical reflection. Her work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including CBK Zuidoost (Amsterdam), Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (Leiden), De Appel (Amsterdam), Stroom Den Haag, Cemeti Institute for Art and Society (Yogyakarta), and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto). She holds an MA from the Dutch Art Institute and a BFA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.