Two generations. Two distinct positions of the Chinese-Indonesian diaspora. One shared inquiry into identity across borders, collective trauma, and inheritance.
Names in Our Veins brings together FX Harsono, a seminal figure in Indonesian contemporary art, and Amsterdam-based Vincent Ruijters—one artist speaking from first-hand experience in Indonesia, and another from a double diaspora in the Netherlands.
As a founding member of the rebellious Gerakan Seni Rupa Baru (New Art Movement) in the 1970s, Harsono spent years confronting authoritarian state politics before turning his practice inward following the fall of the Suharto regime and the tragic May 1998 violence targetting the Chinese minority. In turn, Ruijters follows an ancestral pull to search for what remains when these legacies are inherited.
For this exhibition, Ruijters presents Kuburan (Graves), a major new commission developed from a journey to Pariaman, West Sumatra, in search of his great-grandmother's forgotten grave. The resulting spatial installation draws on the branching forms of veins and family trees, as well as the flowing patterns and deep reds of Peranakan batik from Lasem, Central Java.
Presented alongside Harsono’s landmark works on state-sanctioned erasure of his Chinese name and the massacres of Chinese-Indonesians during the struggle for independence late 1940s, the exhibition bridges lived experience and generational memory while insisting that 'small histories' be remembered against the tide of 'great history'.
What runs in our veins?
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image: FX Harsono, "Writing in the Dark Rain", 2025, video still -
image: Vincent Ruijters, "Kuburan", 2026, sketch -
image: Design by Tulip Utomo -
image: FX Harsono, "Pilgrimage to History", 2013, video still -
image: Vincent Ruijters, at his great-grandmother's grave, research for "Kuburan", 2026 -
image: FX Harsono, "Rewriting on the Tomb", 2013 installation view -
image: FX Harsono, "Writing in the Rain" (2011) at Times Square New York, 2018 Midnight Moment -
FX Harsono (b. 1949, Blitar) is a pioneering figure in Indonesian contemporary art who helped shape the country’s conceptual and experimental practices. In 2014, he received the Prince Claus Award in recognition of his longstanding commitment to artistic freedom and social justice.
Vincent Ruijters (b. 1988, The Hague) is an Amsterdam-based artist whose large-scale spatial installations combine poetic, conceptual and technological approaches to explore intimacy and belonging across broders. Ruijters holds a PhD in Intermedia Art from the Tokyo University of the Arts.
Supported by Gemeente Amsterdam, Ammodo, Fonds 21, Mondriaan Fund, Prince Claus Fund, and Bagri Foundation.
Open Daily
10:00-18:00
DATE: 3 Sep 2026
TIME: 18:30–21:00
Book your free ticket here
Join us for drinks and a conversation with the artists FX Harsono and Vincent Ruijters. Enter via the Buro Stedelijk entrance at Paulus Potterstraat 13, 1071 CX Amsterdam.
See you there!
During regular exhibition hours, entrance is via the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam main entrance
A regular museum entrance ticket required. For more information please visit https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/tickets
Wheelchair accessible. For more details please visit this page.
Jo-Lene Ong
Anouk van Amsterdam
Rosalie Peeperkorn
Jody Behre, Popkraft
Tulip Utomo
Gemeente Amsterdam, Ammodo, Fonds 21, Mondriaan Fund, Prince Claus Fund, Bagri Foundation.
buro@burostedelijk.nl
