MOED's virtual exhibition 'Decolonial Dialogues with the Golden Coach' examines controversial side panel

MOED, the Museum of Equality and Difference, has launched a new virtual exhibition ‘Decolonial Dialogues with the Golden Coach’. The exhibition dissects the iconography of the Golden Coach’s controversial panel ‘Tribute from the Colonies’, placing the panel in dialogue with the work of contemporary artists of colour.

In conversation with the Dutch colonial past

'Decolonial Dialogues with the Golden Coach' and accompanying catalogue highlight some of the iconographic stereotypes and narratives of the Dutch colonial past within the panel that still reverberate to this day.

The exhibition identifies three vignettes within the panel: the invention of 'benevolent colonialism', the stereotype of 'the noble savage', and the connections between colonialism and the destruction of ecologies. The exhibition places these three themes in a larger context of depictions of the Dutch colonial history, demonstrating how these type of visual glorifications of the Dutch colonial past are not incidental, but instead are part of a larger tradition of similar depictions.

Through the three themes the exhibition traces the panel’s connections to how the Dutch colonial past is commemorated in the Netherlands today, the present socio-political position of immigrants in the Netherlands, and the nexus between colonialism, capitalism, and environmental destruction.

Interactive virtual environment

Influenced by the several lockdowns we have all experienced, which forced museums to close their doors to the public and to find new ways of exhibiting their collections, the exhibition takes the form of an interactive virtual environment. By using your keyboard and your cursor, you can visit the exhibition and walk around a dystopian, empty landscape, from which the artworks arise.

Participating artists are Zico Albaiquni, Dewy Elsinga, Natasja Kensmil, Nomusa Makhubu, Suat Öğüt, Hestu Setu Legi, Shertise Solano and Hedy Tjin.

MOED

MOED Museum of Equality and Difference is an online research platform bringing together artistic perspectives on equality and difference that strive for social change. MOED is initiated by Rosemarie Buikema, Professor of Art, Culture and Diversity, and is part of the Graduate Gender Programme. ‘Decolonial Dialogues with the Golden Coach’ is curated by Rosemarie Buikema, Giorgia Cacciatore (lecturer in Media and Performance Studies) and Astrid Kerchman (project coordinator MOED).