Opening of the exhibition Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation (2025) at Framer Framed, Amsterdam. Photo: © Ben Yau / Framer Framed. 6 Dec 2025
14:00 - 15:00
Guided Tour: Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation
On Saturday 6 December, Framer Framed researcher Emily Shin-Jie Lee gives a guided tour of the exhibition Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation, on view from 15 October to 11 January. She’s joined by artist Mirelle van Tulder, whose publications Catalogue of Stolen Objects, Courtesy of and Emptying the Shelves, and video installation Being Part European are part of the exhibition. After the tour, visitors can pose questions and share conversations.
Sign up here. Afterwards, you are welcome to join Moulding the Mask, Finding the Face, a two-day mask making workshop led by artists Malaika Amaranna Obiefule and Chimira Natanna Obiefule.
Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation brings together works by al-yené, Antonio Jose Guzman & Iva Jankovic, Georges Senga, Kader Attia, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Leah Zhang, Pei-Hsuan Wang, Sammy Baloji & Cécile Fromont, Mirelle van Tulder and Anna Safiatou Touré. Together, their practices examine how colonialism has shaped the ways museums, archives and other institutions of knowledge are perceived and understood, revealing the (im)material scars imposed by systemic violence.
Working across various research-driven practices including film, sonic installation, sculpture, painting and other media, the participating artists trace how stories, identities and objects have been categorised, controlled or erased across different sociopolitical contexts. Just as importantly, their works reclaim and reimagine these subjects, allowing them to shift, resist and take on new forms.
At its core, Shapeshifters explores the (im)possibilities for knowledge institutions to evolve and move forward based on care and reciprocity. Questions of ownership, value, loss and repair run through the exhibition. The artworks encourage continuous becoming and challenge what is remembered, who is represented and how institutions might embrace a shape-shifting process: to reorganise space and time for connection, where spirituality and wisdom can grow.
Catalogue of Stolen Objects, Courtesy of (2025) by Mirelle van Tulder from the exhibition Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation (2025) at Framer Framed, Amsterdam. Photo: © Maarten Nauw / Framer Framed.
Installation photo from the exhibition Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation (2025) at Framer Framed, Amsterdam. Photo: © Maarten Nauw / Framer Framed.
The tour is in English. Admission is free, pay what you can. On request, additional guided tours can be provided in Dutch, Arabic, Spanish and Mandarin.
Do you also think art should be free and accessible? Please consider supporting us with a donation when registering or by becoming a Framer Framed Friend!
This event may be photographed and filmed. Kindly let us know in advance if you prefer not to have your picture taken. For seated programmes, places are always made available for wheelchair users. Please speak to the host before the programme begins.
Framer Framed is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; Municipality of Amsterdam; and VriendenLoterij Fonds.
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Global Art History / Museology / New Museology / Textile /
Exhibitions
Exhibition: Shapeshifters
A group exhibition examining how colonialism has shaped museums, archives and other institutions of knowledge
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