Archipelagoes of Bond: the work of Rotterdam filmmaker Janilda Bartolomeu on the Cape Verdean diaspora

Nieuwe Instituut and RAW Material Company are organising the public programme Archipelagoes of Bond in Dakar, Senegal, on May 22. The focus is on Rotterdam filmmaker Janilda Bartolomeu and her work on the largely undocumented history of Cape Verdean migrants in Rotterdam and Dakar. The programme launches the next phase of Bartolomeu’s research on community identity in migrant groups, which she is conducting in collaboration with RAW Material Company in Dakar. The evening is part of a wider cultural programme by RAW Material Company, and is made possible with the support of the Dutch Embassy in Senegal.

The Eleventh Island 
Cape Verdean-born Rotterdam filmmaker Janilda Bartolomeu has spent several years researching the little-documented history of the Cape Verdean diaspora. One of these hidden stories is told in her film The Eleventh Island: Activating Silent Histories Through Video. There has been a Cape Verdean community in the Netherlands since the 1960s, mainly in Rotterdam, which is why the city is known as the “Eleventh Island” of Cape Verde. 

Rotterdam shares this title with Dakar. In the first half of the 20th century, a large Cape Verdean community settled in the Senegalese city. They brought their culture, music, dance and food to Senegal and are now an integral part of the West African country’s rich cultural diversity.

The research project
In both Rotterdam and Dakar, Cape Verdeans have the image of being a “silent” migrant group. This is also reflected in the limited availability of historical information, archives and photographs. Given this scarcity, Bartolomeu started an ongoing research project in 2016 to collect the undocumented history of the Cape Verdean diaspora and islands. She previously worked on this as a researcher at the Nieuwe Instituut. 

In 2025, Bartolomeu will continue this research during a residency at RAW Material Company in Dakar. The public programme Archipelagoes of Bond in Dakar on 22 May, which will include a screening of The Eleventh Island, marks the beginning of this phase of the project. Bartolomeu will continue to explore questions about the transmission of community identity and the sense of belonging across borders, drawing on the memories of families, their histories and their subsequent stories. The intention is for the research to be exhibited at the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam in 2025.

Cultural programme in Dakar
Archipelagoes of Bond will take place on May 22 at the Cinéma Empire in Dakar. It is part of RAW Route, a programme by RAW Material Company consisting of an exhibition, a series of discussions, a book fair and other events. RAW Route takes place in Dakar in May, a vibrant month when many of Dakar’s cultural organisations and institutions host over 150 different events. Nieuwe Instituut’s contribution is a collaboration with RAW Material Company and is made possible with the support of the Dutch Embassy in Senegal.

About Nieuwe Instituut 
Nieuwe Instituut is the Dutch national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture, located in the Museumpark in Rotterdam. Our three disciplines constitute the spaces, objects and interactions that shape our world. Through exhibitions, events, research and other national and international initiatives, we show how design ideas contribute positively to pressing social challenges. We want not only to imagine a better future, but also to test and implement it together with our visitors. Nieuwe Instituut is a hospitable and lively place where designers, thinkers and the public meet. Multivocality is also the basis of the Zoöp, our organisational model which gives non-human life a voice. Nieuwe Instituut is also responsible for the management, conservation and accessibility of the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, one of the largest architectural collections in the world, and the Sonneveld House Museum, an icon of Dutch functionalist architecture built in 1933.