A city’s culture is never static but always in flux. It is determined by its inhabitants who come from different backgrounds, networks and constantly evolving traditions. People with visible and invisible connections who have to relate to one another and who all want to feel at home.  ‘Sense of place’ is about people, their perception of place and the different ways in which they try to make a place feel like home.

Amsterdam is an incredibly diverse and cosmopolitan city, partly shaped by people who are here because of voluntary migration and (and in the wake of) forced migration in the past. The public debate about urban culture covers issues such as inclusion and exclusion, identity and polarisation. At the same time, decisions made by established institutions as to what histories and stories are collected and shown are only too often still based on the prevailing dominant, Eurocentric view.

The ROOTED / UPROOTED: Sense of Place @ CBK Zuidoost presents stories from the point of view of artists, most of whom have a migration background. Their narrative is about migration, diaspora, cultural hybridity, being rooted and uprooted and the impact this has had on them.