The Undercurrents of Co-Creation: An Exercise in Embracing Discomfort in the Slavery Exhibition Herdenken en Helen in Amsterdam

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Undercurrents of Co-Creation

T2 - An Exercise in Embracing Discomfort in the Slavery Exhibition Herdenken en Helen in Amsterdam

AU - Balkenhol, M.

AU - Dikmoet, Jessica

AU - Rijssen, Jules

AU - Kuijten, Danielle

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Through this essay we aim to contribute to a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of co-creation. We present ‘Herdenken en Helen’ (to Commemorate and Heal), a 2023 project on the annual commemoration of slavery in Amsterdam, co-created with memory activists, heritage professionals and scholars. By bringing together our combined experiences, building on expertise in the field of participatory practices and the topic of this co-creative project, we provide a critical reading of the affordance of co-creation when aiming for multivocality, and offer some considerations on how to re-think ideas of co-creation. We argue that a focus on ‘community’ in co-creation risks glossing over existing differences and antagonisms. These ‘undercurrents of co-creation’ – the tidal push and pull beneath the surface – need to be brought into view. We propose to acknowledge that the undercurrents are part of the co-creative process, and to find ways to make them productive.

AB - Through this essay we aim to contribute to a more nuanced and multifaceted understanding of co-creation. We present ‘Herdenken en Helen’ (to Commemorate and Heal), a 2023 project on the annual commemoration of slavery in Amsterdam, co-created with memory activists, heritage professionals and scholars. By bringing together our combined experiences, building on expertise in the field of participatory practices and the topic of this co-creative project, we provide a critical reading of the affordance of co-creation when aiming for multivocality, and offer some considerations on how to re-think ideas of co-creation. We argue that a focus on ‘community’ in co-creation risks glossing over existing differences and antagonisms. These ‘undercurrents of co-creation’ – the tidal push and pull beneath the surface – need to be brought into view. We propose to acknowledge that the undercurrents are part of the co-creative process, and to find ways to make them productive.

M3 - Article

VL - 2025

SP - 42

EP - 61

JO - Amsterdam Museum Journal

JF - Amsterdam Museum Journal

IS - 4

ER -