Generasi 3.0 – The Stories We Carry

11 October 2025 - 22 March 2026

How do you deal with a family history that is tightly interwoven with our colonial past? In the exhibition Generasi 3.0 – The Stories We Carry, nine photographers, artists and makers delve into their family histories, which are rooted in the former Dutch East Indies. The search for a better understanding of their origins transcends their individual journeys. Their stories contribute to a broader public debate about the centuries-long colonialization of the Indonesian archipelago by the Netherlands, touching on painful issues such as slavery, war and violence, forced migration and their legacy today.

All the artists belong to the third generation: born in the Netherlands but with roots in the former colony. Their parents or grandparents were born in the archipelago or worked there and came to the Netherlands at some point in their lives, sometimes against their will. Now, with more distance from the painful events of the colonial period, this third generation is investigating the role their family’s past plays in their lives – and how it shapes who they are today.

Generasi 3.0 – The Stories We Carry opens on 11 October and features works by Caja Boogers, Sander Coers, Yara Jimmink, Miranda Devita Kistler, Sebastian & Tyler Koudijzer, Ilvy Njiokiktjien, Sekan and Maarten Tromp. Through this exhibition and the accompanying public programme, the Fotomuseum Den Haag aims to increase the visibility of, and open up conversations about these histories.

“The knowledge that some two million Dutch people have roots in the former Dutch East Indies makes you realise the importance of making room for other perspectives on this layered history. Especially in The Hague, a city that has always had close links with the former Dutch East Indies.” – Margriet Schavemaker, director of the Fotomuseum Den Haag and the Kunstmuseum Den Haag 

“People of my generation are looking at colonial history from a new perspective – not as a closed chapter, but as something that continues to influence our families, our identities and cultural imagination.” – Nienke Coers, guest researcher for Generasi 3.0 – The Stories We Carry

Family photos as a point of departure 
The exhibition unfolds as a journey through the artists’ personal stories. Often, a tangible trace opens the door to something more elusive: a memory, a sense of connection or a loss. For Caja Boogers, Sander Coers and Ilvy Njiokiktjien, their search began with their family albums. What value does a photo have if the memory is gone? Photos from more than a hundred years ago led Ilvy Njiokiktjien to a house on Laan van Meerdervoort in The Hague, where her Chinese Indonesian grandfather was sent as a child to be raised by a German Dutch couple. 

Sander Coers uses artificial intelligence to create “phantom” memories. He feeds images from his family albums and photographs taken during trips to the Maluku Islands into an algorithm. The resulting images do not represent actual lived moments but instead form an associative memory landscape.  

For his paintings, Caja Boogers selected photographs from an old family album and public archives. Each panel features only small details of the photos, like a mouth, a hand, or a batik pattern. In this way, he gives tangible form to the fragmented nature of memories and explores the role nostalgia plays in them.

Economic legacy 
How do you reconcile the riches of colonialism with the exploitation and oppression on which it was based? Yara Jimmink, born in Amsterdam with roots on the Banda Islands, shows how these islands and the Netherlands were inextricably linked through the nutmeg trade in the seventeenth century. The wealth that the Dutch East India Company accumulated from this trade, still visible in Amsterdam today, was accompanied by extreme violence against the Indigenous population. Jimmink works with personal photos and archival materials, constructing numerous layers to make visible the ever-present consequences of colonialism.

Maarten Tromp also focuses on this economic legacy. In 1936, his great-grandfather led a Dutch expedition to Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) in Dutch New Guinea (now Papua), where large deposits of gold ore were discovered. In the 1970s, under Indonesian administration, this led to the establishment of the Freeport mine: for many years the largest gold mine in the world. Since 2010, Tromp has made regularly trips to Papua. Against the backdrop of the extraction of natural resources as part of the colonial system, he focuses on the local communities and their relationship with their land. He is presenting one of these stories for the first time in the exhibition.

What remains 
The Swiss Indonesian artist Miranda Kistler draws a parallel between memory and erosion. Just as the rocks along the Rhine between Switzerland and the Netherlands have been shaped by the river’s flow and human intervention, memories are also altered over time. A photo from her grandmother’s album is displayed on a piece of textile that hangs freely in the exhibition space. Her grandmother’s photo albums have suffered water damage from the constant flooding in the part of Java where she lives.

In The Sugarcoated Venture, brothers Tyler and Sebastian Koudijzer trace their Javanese Surinamese roots. In 1972, their grandparents Watinie and Iksan left their native Suriname to settle in the Netherlands. Their family history is closely intertwined with the system of indentured labour that took Javanese migrants to Suriname after the abolition of slavery. In 2023, the brothers returned with their grandparents, searching for the places and stories that have shaped their history. They documented this journey through photographs, the spoken word and archival materials. During the opening night, they will perform a short version of their theatre piece.

Lastly, the exhibition showcases the work of DJ and artistic researcher Sekan. For this, the space is transformed into an auditory experience that features a curated selection of music, bringing together old and new music from the Indonesian archipelago and the diaspora: from protest music from West Papua, rock from the Moluccan neighborhood, and Javanese-Surinamese funk. In this intimate listening experience, music becomes a form of heritage, resistance, and collective memory, bridging the gap between stories, memories, and worlds.

Public programme 
The public programme explores how the third generation can contribute to the conversation about how this shared past affects the present and the future. It has been developed together with Museum Sophiahof and various partners from the participating communities. The programme kicks off during Museum Night on 11 October with the festive opening of the exhibition.

From 18 September, Museum Sophiahof will host a special outdoor exhibition featuring works that Moluccan photographer Otto Tatipikalawan made in the 1980s and ’90s about Moluccan communities in the Netherlands, curated by Museum Maluku.  

Publication 
At the end of November, Jap Sam Books will publish a book, designed by Eva van der Schans, that brings together the artists’ projects with a text by museum curator Iris Sikking and essays by Nienke Coers (guest researcher), Lara Nuberg (historian and writer) and Jeftha Pattikawa (researcher and DE&I advisor).  

The public programme has been organised in partnership with Museum Sophiahof. The exhibition and public programme have been made possible by the Vfonds and Mondrian Fund.

Note for editors   
For more information, extra press images and interview requests:   
Annemarie van den Eijkel | +31 642 216 272 | avandeneijkel@fmdh.nl