The Black Archives with Mitchell EsajasThe Black Archives with Mitchell Esajas

In the context of the exhibition Finders Keepers, Mitchell Esajas talks about The Black Archives, a collection of archives, libraries and artefacts relating to black writers and scholars. The collection is preserved and made accessible by the New Urban Collective. Co-founder Mitchell Esajas talks about the formation of the archive and about how making it accessible places colonial history in a new perspective and makes visible a suppressed history of black resistance in the Netherlands.

Mitchell Esajas studied business administration and anthropology. He is co-founder and chairman of the New Urban Collective, a network for students and young professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds. He is involved in various initiatives that contribute to the decolonisation of education and fostering diversity and inclusiveness in the labour market. He is also programme manager in the department of Medical Anthropology & Sociology at the University of Amsterdam.

In its autumn programme, focusing on 'the collection' in its many forms and meanings, Het Nieuwe Instituut invites the public to contemplate the necessity of collections, their complexity and the pleasure they bring. From the collections in the exhibition _Finders Keepers_ to Het Nieuwe Instituut's architecture collection: each collection has its own construction. Thursday Night Live! examines these constructions and offers a critical perspective on what collecting is: the art of finding, selecting, ordering and creating meaning.

In Het Nieuwe Instituut's Thursday Night Live! programme thinkers, designers and makers from the Netherlands and abroad discuss urgent issues, innovative research and critical reflection related to architecture, design and digital culture. Why not grab a bite to eat with the speakers and staff of Het Nieuwe Instituut? Dinner vouchers are available for ¬7.50 up to a day before the particular Thursday Night event via the Tickets link at this page or at the bar this evening.