POWER, KNOWLEDGE, AND EUROPEAN COLONIALISM IN GALLERY 1.17 THE NETHERLANDS OVERSEAS THE DUTCH EAST INDIES”, RIJKSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM

• Main Author: Aghara, Qanissa
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/80256
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Public museum is defined as a permanent institution with responsibilities towards material and non-material heritage. Conservation, interpretation, and display are few of the museum functions. Colonial collections in the museum usually become a site of tension. Colonial collection refers to any artefacts that has relations to colonial histories, whether made or claimed as a collection by the colonial authority. Rijksmuseum, as the biggest Art and History museum in Netherlands is a home to many colonial collections. This research focuses on Gallery 1.17 "The Netherlands Overseas," specifically "The Dutch East Indies" segment that showcases colonial artifacts affiliated with the Dutch East Indies— currently known as Indonesia—during its colonial period under the Dutch rule. The study is delimited to eleven artifacts within the segment, each contributed distinct colonial perspectives. The research question in this study is how the presentation in The Netherlands Overseas “The Dutch East Indies” segment in Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam reflects on the concept of Colonialism, Power, and Knowledge? Employing a qualitative research method with a constructivism-interpretivism paradigm. The data collection process involved field visits, documentation, observation, and literature review. This interdisciplinary study engages with art history, museum studies, and postcolonial studies. Theoretical frameworks in this research include Ania Loomba's Colonialism/Postcolonialism, Tiina Roppola's Designing for Museum Visitor Experience, Tony Bennett's Museum, Power, and Knowledge based on Foucault's Power and Knowledge theory, and Ivan Karp & Steven D. Lavine's Poetics and Politics of Museum Display. The analysis encompasses the physical aspects of museum display, the narrative discourse presented by the museum, and the discursive expansion of visitors’ conceptual involvement in the gallery. The research findings reveal that Rijksmuseum's stance as public institution is inseparable from the practices of modern knowledge production and cultural interventions imposed by the colonial system. European colonialism indirectly shapes Rijksmuseum's development as a national museum. In the conclusion related to exhibition space, spatial aspects are considered intentionally constructed to support discourse delivery, regardless of thematic variations encompassed by each collections. Museum collections in "The Dutch East Indies" segment reflect discourses of modernization, capitalism, industrialization, and the construction of colonial identity. Despite the intent of colonial authorities' to construct identity, the study also discovers that prolonged colonial encounters lead to hybridity involving all parties in the colonial encounter. Colonialism cannot be confined to a specific period; modern colonialism has tangible impacts in our current lives and most likely, the future. This research seeks to comprehend the complexity of colonial situations that exceeds certain periods. Power and Knowledge are reflected in colonial relations associated with Gallery 1.17 "The Netherlands Overseas" and "The Dutch East Indies" segment at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Power and Knowledge are manifested through subtle spatial and narrative arrangements in the Gallery.