Research Center for Material Culture

Research Center for Material Culture The Research Center for Material Culture is a flagship research institute within the Wereldmuseum.

The Research Center for Material Culture (RCMC) is a flagship research institute within the Wereldmuseum that serves as a focal point for research on ethnographic collections in the Netherlands. We foster interdisciplinary research, focused on our internationally renowned collections, which comprise over 376.000 objects and almost 1.000.000 photographs cataloguing the diversity of world cultures.

Our research projects and programs address the historical and contemporary meanings of these collections, the national and global histories of which they are a part, and the contemporary societal questions around issues of heritage, cultural identity and belonging that these objects raise.

13/05/2026

SYMPOSIUM | Another Gathering: The Beauty We Inherit on May 20

What does it mean to be in the wake of absence? Until its restitution in November 2025, "Ama O Ghe Ehen", a 18th-century bronze plaque depicting a mudfish, was held in the Museum de Fundatie's collection since its acquisition in 1937.

On May 20 The Research Center for Material Culture at Wereldmuseum and Museum de Fundatie explore the process and implications of this return, and what restitution might mean in the context of this plaque.

Join us for a day of conversations, lectures, screenings, sonic interventions, and performances.

📍May 20 | 9:30 - 17:30 | Wereldmuseum Leiden
🎟️ Free registration via: https://ow.ly/wsOr50YVxKj

Photo: Ama O Ghe Ehen (Fish Plaque), 18th Century, Brass (bronze), 43 x 18 cm. Court of the Oba of Benin, Nigeria. Courtesy of the NCMM, on behalf of the Oba of Benin. Photograph by Martijn Schmidt.

06/05/2026

REIMAGINING THE ARCHIVE | What happens if we reimagine the practice of art history as a form of world making, using archival research alongside imaginative thinking?

The Research Center for Material Culture at the Wereldmuseum, in close collaboration with the Radboud University Nijmegen and Wereldlab, invites Shola von Reinhold, Satch Hoyt, Eunsong Kim and Carine Zaayman for the programme Making Worlds: Reimagining the Archive.

Making Worlds is a continuing collaborative programme between Wereldlab and Radboud University, featuring presentations, conversations, and performances by artists and scholars who are animated by the problems and possibilities of the archive—a space of collection and categorisation shaped by coloniality.

📍Waalhalla Centrum: Winselingseweg 12, 6541 AK Nijmegen
📅May 22. 15:00 – 17:45 PM
🎟️Register for free via: https://ow.ly/1QM550YRK4r

28/03/2026

ARTIST TALK | Rogue Agents of History on April 24

Wereldmuseum Amsterdam and the Research Center for Material Culture welcome artists Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind for an artist talk in direct connection with the opening of the exhibition Rogue Agents of History.

During this talk, Sansour and Lind be will in conversation with the curator of the exhibition Nat Muller. Their conversation will focus on the central themes and questions that arise from the exhibition and the newly commissioned film A Sunken Tale of Losses Delayed.

🎟️Book your free tickets via: https://ow.ly/CNZO50YwWfl

ON ROGUE AGENTS OF HISTORY

Rogue Agents of History is the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by acclaimed Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour. She works primarily with film, photography, and installation. Central to her work is the interplay between myth, documentary and historical narrative, often explored through the lens of science fiction.

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Steenstraat 1
Leiden
2312BS

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+31880042800

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