Thursday 7 March
The sea container arrives at its very first national location: Middelburg. The place where it all began.
The sea container containing the dance film Armazoen is placed on the church square 'Onder de Toren'.
Friday 8 March
This day is the start date of Art Project Armazoen in Middelburg, and thus also the beginning of its national route! Our contextual programming partner at this location is CBK Zeeland.
We very deliberately chose the location of Middelburg and the start date of 8 March for Art Project Armazoen: the square 'Onder de Toren', where our sea container stands, lies close to where the slave ships of the Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (MCC) departed from and returned to in the 18th century.
On 8 March 1733, between midnight and 4am, five enslaved women — held captive as Armazoen (human merchandise) — jumped overboard from the slave ship Hof van Zeeland. This event is recorded in the logbook as an offhand note. One of these women died. The story on which the dance film is based.
Thursday 18 to Saturday 26 April
After Middelburg, Art Project Armazoen travels on to Rotterdam. At this location, the Maritiem Museum Rotterdam is our contextual programming partner. The sea container stands in a beautiful spot on the outdoor grounds of the Maritime Museum.
Thursday 30 April to Monday 20 May
The next location on the national route of Art Project Armazoen is IJmuiden/Velsen. At this location, we collaborate with contextual programming partner Stadsschouwburg & Filmtheater Velsen.
To draw their audience's attention to our project, they screen the trailer of the dance film Armazoen on the big screen of their cinema.
Particularly impressive to see, from the trailer footage, that the dance film also holds up on a big screen!
Friday 21 to Sunday 23 June
After IJmuiden/Velsen, Art Project Armazoen travels on to Den Helder. Our contextual programming partner is Triade Den Helder. They too have developed a particularly impressive programme around this project. Once the sea container has arrived in Den Helder, it is loaded onto a boat and we sail towards Texel.
This crossing is a very special part of Art Project Armazoen: we sail over the Rede van Texel, the place where, during the transatlantic slave trade, the slave ships lay waiting until the wind was 'favourable' enough to set sail.
Monday 1 July
On this important day, symbolic for this project — Keti Koti, the National Commemoration and celebration of the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonies — Art Project Armazoen is present at the Keti Koti Festival on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. On this day, during Keti Koti, the National Commemoration and celebration of the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonies, the first part of the national tour of Art Project Armazoen comes to a close.
Wednesday 20 to Sunday 24 August 2025
And then we've arrived in August '25! We're getting ready for, for now, the final location of the Dutch tour of Art Project Armazoen: SAIL2025!
We placed the sea container of Art Project Armazoen at a carefully (and strategically!) chosen spot: as you step out of the sea container after watching the dance film, you see, in the distance ahead of you, the famous replica of a VOC ship, part of Het Scheepvaartmuseum.
During the film screenings at SAIL2025, we had a lot of help from our two audience hosts Pascal Busch and Dewi van Leeuwen, and the various volunteers who were present. In the run-up to and in preparation for the international journey, a representative from our American partner Black Gotham Experience also travelled over from New York.
And with a great deal of public appreciation, this first part of the national route of Art Project Armazoen comes, for now, to a close.