In November 2023, L’Internationale Online, the research and publishing platform for the European network of museums, arts organizations and universities, began the publishing strand Towards Collective Study in Ties of Emergency. A collective response to the drastic shifts in the public sphere as a result of the genocide in Palestine, the resulting publication brings together 19 contributions commissioned spanning essays, listening sessions, poetry selections, music, and artistic contributions.

Within the context of Every Act of Struggle: Intrusion and Assembly, de Appel’s research project and exhibition, L’Internationale has been invited to propose a programme of study. The programme is a moment to launch the publication in Amsterdam with public readings, listening sessions and gathering with friends, whilst also forging and strengthening alliances and strategies for what lies ahead. It is being conceived across public and closed sessions with the aim to articulate (link) strategies of Sumud (steadfastness) across current times of emergency with examples from the past, namely apartheid South Africa and institutional responses in the Netherlands that is the focus of de appel’s current research. These articulations will, we hope, allow for a moment of reflection and consolidation across different practices and trajectories of study that will be generative for the future.

The programme includes public sessions by Elke Uitentuis, Chad Cordeiro, Charles Esche, Rana Issa, Learning Palestine, Rasha Salti and Françoise Vergés, as well as closed sessions by Layal Ftouni (on the politics of life and living at the boundaries with death, both human and environmental in conditions of war and settler colonialism, focusing on Syria and Palestine); a conversation between The Black Archives and Subversive Film (On archives of struggle and solidarity), as well as the participating artists of Every Act of Struggle: Chad Cordeiro, Pieter Paul Pothoven, Simnikiwe Buhlungu and Lara Khaldi (on their archival research for the exhibition).

If you are a researcher or activist directly related to the content of the closed sessions and would like to join, please write to janpieter [​at​] deappel.nl with a few lines about why you would like to join.

About Every Act of Struggle: Intrusion and Assembly
Over the past two years, a complex discourse has emerged concerning the ways in which cultural institutions in the Netherlands navigate questions of historical violence and systemic injustice in the context of their colonial history. Artists have employed various strategies to urge these institutions to address these issues, often merging activism with their artistic practice. While some actions have brought these matters to public attention, much of the discourse continues to unfold in private, with many institutions adopting cautious or noncommittal stances. This current dynamic recalls earlier moments in history, namely the debates sparked by the cultural boycott of South Africa and the anti-apartheid movement of the 1960s through the 1980s in the Netherlands, when cultural institutions faced similar pressures to critically reflect on their roles. Adopting a methodology by School of Intrusions, the artists in this exhibition have been meeting in various archives and locations in Amsterdam, with each meeting or intrusion at a new site being led by a different artist. They look through research material, read texts collectively and discuss various cases of anti-apartheid campaigns, actions led by artist movements and institutional reactions. For the duration of the presentation at de Appel, new and former artworks by the artists Noor Abed, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Chad Cordeiro, and Pieter Paul Pothoven will be exhibited. The exhibition space around the works is converted into a hospitable assembly space by architect and artist Iswanto Hartono to host activations by sharing open research and study sessions with audiences. The research will continue past the exhibition culminating in another public moment in 2026.

About L’Internationale
L’Internationale is a European confederation of museums, arts organizations and universities, founded in 2009. Launched in 2013, L’Internationale Online is the research and publishing platform for the confederation. It is a space where commissioned texts, research and artistic projects intersect with the activities, collections and archives of the members’ institutions. It includes a growing library of publications produced by the platform, as well as by the partner institutions, available for download. L’Internationale Online is also a platform for the network to publish statements and opinion pieces on topical cultural and political debates.

Thursday 8 May:
2-4pm: Closed session

4.30pm: Welcome and introduction by Nick Aikens and Lara Khaldi

4.45pm: Conversation Past Disquiet - Solidarity Exhibitions: South Africa, Palestine and beyond by Rasha Salti and Elke Uitentuis with Lara Khaldi

6pm: Music by Chad Cordeiro, with bites and drinks

7.30pm: Lecture Today, again, we must say that Palestine is the centre of the world by Françoise Vergés, followed by conversation with Charles Esche

Friday 9 May:
11am-4pm: Closed sessions

4.30pm: Poetry readings Poetry against Language Dioxide by Rana Issa

5.30pm: Food and drinks

6.30pm: Listening session Until Liberation, Part III by Learning Palestine

8pm: Lecture and discussion Palestine’s South Africa Moment by Omar Bargouthi

9pm: Collective reading Everything will stay the same if we don’t speak up

9.30pm: Food and drinks

The events will take place in English. Make a free reservation: