Framer Framed is proud to present Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation, on view till 11 January 2026. This group exhibition brings together works by al-yené, Antonio Jose Guzman & Iva Jankovic, Georges Senga, Kader Attia, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Leah Zhang, Pei-Hsuan Wang, Sammy Baloji & Cécile Fromont, Mirelle van Tulder and Anna Safiatou Touré. Together, their practices examine how colonialism has shaped the ways museums, archives and other institutions of knowledge are perceived and understood, revealing the (im)material scars imposed by systemic violence. As part of the exhibition Framer Framed is hosting a SYMPOSIUM on 17 October 2025. The day-long programme brings together participating artists, alongside researchers, museum directors, and cultural workers, to reflect on themes raised by the exhibition. Discussions will address the ethical and cultural implications of collections built through colonial looting and exploitation, and how these legacies continue to shape histories of dispossession and cultural erasure today.
Shapeshifters invites visitors to refigure one’s own relationship to these power structures by stepping into relations built on curiosity and empathy. The exhibition title draws from science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler, for whom ‘shapeshifting’ refers not only to the ability to transform at will but to a survival strategy, an imaginative technology and a means of resisting domination. In the same vein, the artists in Shapeshifters use their work as a device to unsettle fixed narratives, confront entrenched systems of power and open space for alternative ways of knowing, relating and being in the world.
Working across various research-driven practices including film, sonic installation, sculpture, painting and other media, the participating artists trace how stories, identities and objects have been categorised, controlled or erased across different sociopolitical contexts. Just as importantly, their works reclaim and reimagine these subjects, allowing them to shift, resist and take on new forms. Commissioned by Framer Framed, number of new works by Sammy Baloji, Pei-Hsuan Wang and Georges Senga will be presented for the first time.
At its core, Shapeshifters explores the (im)possibilities for knowledge institutions to evolve and move forward based on care and reciprocity. Questions of ownership, value, loss and repair run through the exhibition. The artworks encourage continuous becoming and challenge what is remembered, who is represented and how institutions might embrace a shape-shifting process: to reorganise space and time for connection, where spirituality and wisdom can grow.
Click for more information about the symposium
Location
Framer Framed
Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71
1093 KS, Amsterdam
Opening
Wednesday 15 October 2025, 18:00.
Please register here.
Opening Times
16 October 2025 – 11 January 2026
Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00-18:00
Free entry, pay what you can.