Visit the website of The Keti Koti Table
On Thursday 4 April, the Keti Koti Dialoog Tafel (Keti Koti Dialogue Table) will be held at LantarenVenster. The event is organised by LantarenVenster, Luxor Theater and the Nederlands Fotomuseum. The evening is entirely dedicated to Keti Koti, the day commemorating the abolition of slavery.
The evening's theme, "Prejudice and Resistance", aims to facilitate a dialogue on the traces of slavery and colonial history, and its consequences to this day.
Keti Koti is a Surinamese celebration on 1 July commemorating the abolition of slavery. It symbolises liberation from slavery and the breaking of chains. Although there is a growing awareness about Dutch colonial history, the debate about our shared past is still in an early stage. This is why the three cultural organisations on the Kop van Zuid decided to join hands, in collaboration with Stichting Keti Koti Tafel, to have the conversation about the traces of slavery and colonial history and the effects they still have in the present.
The Keti Koti Table at LantarenVenster brings together 100 participants from diverse backgrounds to engage in dialogue at long tables, with everyone having a conversation partner of a different colour. Personal experiences are shared over a three-course meal, with both speaking and listening, with equal speaking times and reflections on each other's contributions.
The gathering includes an opening ritual, a reconstructed slave meal, songs of mourning and liberation from the slavery period sung by a choir, and ritual acts, all designed to make difficult topics discussable. Movisie recognised the Keti Koti Table as one of the three best interventions to combat prejudice and discrimination.
Keti Koti Table Foundation was created in 2012 to engage white and black Dutch people and all colours in between through dialogue on the annual commemoration of the abolition of slavery on 1 July 1863 and its legacy. Since then, the Keti Koti Table Foundation has brought some 35,000 participants into dialogue with each other in cooperation with over 300 institutions: museums, knowledge institutions, government social and educational institutions, city archives, art institutions and libraries.
Date: 4 April 2024
Time: 19:00 / walk-in from 18:30
Location: Lantarenvenster
Address: Otto Reuchlinweg 996, Rotterdam
