Eye(s) Open

In the exhibition Eye(s) Open—New Perspectives on Colonial Film Heritage, eleven artists respond to Eye’s subcollection of some 2,000 colonial-era films from formerly occupied regions in Indonesia and Suriname. The artists have created ten new works based on these films. In doing so, they expose colonial structures and practices and question the role of the camera in perpetuating power.

Eye’s archive contains films from the colonial period that bear witness to this history. These are images of regions as they were seen and recorded by the occupying power: historical documents that, from a Eurocentric perspective, contributed to the maintenance of an oppressive system. The eleven artists, from a range of countries, spent two years researching an eclectic array of often problematic images. The exhibition offers visitors a diverse kaleidoscope of new perspectives and approaches that encourage dialogue. 

Participating artists 
The participating artists are Paula Albuquerque (Portugal/Netherlands), Timoteus Anggawan Kusno (Indonesia), Esther Figueroa (Jamaica), Sabine Groenewegen (Netherlands), Jongsma + O'Neill (Eline Jongsma, NL and Kel O'Neill, US), Miranda Pennell (United Kingdom), Jameisha Prescod (United Kingdom), Afrian Purnama (Indonesia), Riar Rizaldi (Indonesia) and Mahardika Yudha (Indonesia).  

Guest curator Hicham Khalidi 
For Eye(s) Open, Eye is collaborating with guest curator Hicham Khalidi, Director of the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. According to him, the strength of this exhibition lies in the diversity of the participating makers—not only in terms of background and discipline, but also in the widely differing ways in which they invest existing images with new meaning.  

Khalidi: “By turning the images against themselves, the various contributions to this exhibition disrupt the totalizing lens of the camera and the archive’s false promise of truth. In doing so, they create small openings for resistance.”

Publication 
The exhibition is accompanied by a publication that brings together the perspectives of the eleven artists, alongside artistic and scholarly contributions reflecting on a violent history and its continuing impact in the present. This publication also encourages new research into possible collaborations with local Indonesian archives. H. Khalidi, J. Öfner, A. Sarroff (eds.), Eye(s) Open—New Perspectives on Film Heritage from Colonial Times, published by Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam in collaboration with nai010 publishers Rotterdam, EUR 34.95. 

Film, talks & events
Eye(s) Open—New Perspectives on Colonial Film Heritage is accompanied by a programme of films, talks and events held in the cinemas, all of which are related to the subject of the exhibition and several of which have direct relations with the exhibited artworks. The programme will offer various perspectives on the exhibition's themes with its participating artists, Eye’s curators and programmers, and other guests.

April 21, 2026
Spectre in the Celluloid: Timoteus Anggawan Kusno: Four short films by Timoteus Anggawan Kusno, who interrogates the coloniality of power.

April 29, 2026
This is Film!—Eye(s) Open: Hicham Khalidi and Judith Öfner discuss the curation of the exhibition Eye(s) Open.

May 26, 2026
AI and the Archive: Panel talk between Artists Jongsma + O’Neill, Chia-Wei Hsu, and Paula Albuquerque.