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 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.

At its core, Shapeshifters explores the possibilities for of knowledge, such as museums, 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 transformation 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.

The scenography of the exhibition by Bureau LADA creates an extended platform within the space for reflection, dialogue and exchange, with public programmes taking place throught exhibition, including a symposium on Friday 17 October.

Anna Safiatou Touré, The Faces Collection, exhibition Art Au Centre #16, 2025 © Art Au Centre

As part of Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation, Framer Framed hosts a symposium on Friday 17 October 2025 from 11:00 to 19:00. The day-long programme brings together participating artists, alongside researchers, museum directors, and cultural workers, to reflect on themes raised by the exhibition.

Discussions 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.

With presentations by and conversations with Mili Herrera & Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba, Kosisochukwu Nnebe, Samboleap Tol, Nuraini Juliastuti, Laura van Broekhoven, Nanette Snoep, Vincent van Velsen, Quinsy Gario, Wang Pei-Hsuan, Dicky Takndare and Sadiah Boonstra.

Shapeshifters: On Wounds, Wonders and Transformation is produced by Framer Framed in partnership with Wereldmuseum Amsterdam. The exhibition is developed from the framework of the NWO research project Pressing Matter: Ownership, Value and the Question of Colonial Heritage in Museums, in which Framer Framed is a societal partner. 

Additional support is generously provided by the Mondrian Initiative, the Mondriaan Fund, the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), Creative Industries Fund NL, TextielLab, Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, and Jan van Eyck Academie.

Framer Framed is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science; the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts; the Municipality of Amsterdam; and the Fund.