Opening: Sustaining the Otherwise
Practicing Freedom and Refusal
Join us for the opening reception of Sustaining the Otherwise: Practicing Freedom and Refusal on Friday, February 27th 2026, from 6pm at Metro54, Westerdoksdijk 597, Amsterdam.
The space will open with an activation by one of the exhibiting artists: AYO, ‘A score for Atat’s homestead’ followed by talks from the curators. We look forward to seeing you there! Practicing Freedom and Refusal unfolds as part of Sustaining the Otherwise, a collective and ongoing inquiry into how we might live, think and create otherwise, within and against the enduring structures of coloniality.
Initiated by curators Selene Wendt and Amal Alhaag, Sustaining the Otherwise is a collaborative research and artistic project which explores questions of restitution, reparation and transformation. Practicing Freedom and Refusal is part of the project’s multilocational artistic program, and actively engages with the topic of restitution by centralizing research-based artistic practices and lifeworlds that sit with the tensions of colonial terror and confront the (im)possibility of restitution, rematriation, and freedom.
With that in mind, Practicing Freedom and Refusal positions the work of artists AYO, Masimba Hwati, Christian Nyampeta, Adeju Thompson, and Helena Uambembe as distinctly shaped by the nuances and complexities of the dual action of practicing freedom and refusal.
Image by Adeju Thompson.
🔥Date: Friday 27th February
🔥Time: 18:00 - 21:00
🔥Location: Westerdoksdijk 597,
🔥Please RSVP, link here
Sustaining the Otherwise is a multi-locational research and artistic project about restitution, reparation and transformation that offers a space for artists, curators, and scholars to be in dialogue and to explore the topic of restitution in relation to both material and immaterial culture, and an opportunity to exchange knowledge and to expand upon existing networks. Focusing on artistic practices, from February 2026 until Summer 2027, the 2026/2027 program features a multilocational exhibition and artistic program,includes gatherings, artistic programming, exhibitions, artist publications, residencies, publications and the creation of an accessible online and physical archive. Throughout the program and its afterlife, we will present a series of program threads that are organized alongside guided by themes including such as the Earth as a Wayfinder, Becoming at One with the World, Unruly Knowledge, and Transformative Ecosystems in Practice. Each program focuses on a particular set of questions and concepts that offer imaginative, artistic, and community-based ways approaches thatto stretch the notion of restitution beyond the cultural heritage object by centering the artistic practices, community work, research and imagination that is necessary as we seek to also foreground the importance of epistemic restitution.
We hope to see you at our space, on Friday 27th February at 6pm!