Education workshop: Listen, Feel, Felt

Visit the group exhibition Tatar* Kiss with your class or group and engage with a vibrant collection of personal stories of resistance, love, cultural erasure, and restoration, shared from the perspective of the participating artists and curators.

In Tatar* Kiss, seven artists from diverse backgrounds — Bashqort, Buryat-Mongolian, Circassian, Volga Tatar, Kalmyk, and Curaçaoan — show how colonial powers have shaped and disrupted their heritage, and how those legacies continue to resonate today. Hatred, exploitation, and violence are acknowledged, yet there is also a longing to replace them with love and joy.

During the workshop Listen, Feel, Felt, children will first be guided through the exhibition upon arrival at Vleeshal. In this interactive tour, students will encounter Bashqort felt cupids, wander through Circassian forest gardens, follow the dripping traces of Middelburg’s canals, and catch a glimpse of daily life among the Kalmyks of the past. They will sit on a Tatar syake, listen to Tatar and Bashqort languages, and respond to a Buryat-Mongolian greeting.

Throughout the exhibition, the artists use traditional and Indigenous techniques and materials. One of these is wet felting. In the second part of the workshop, students will be introduced to this technique and will try it out themselves under guidance.

During the tour and the following workshop, participants will not only learn about the stories and histories of different peoples, but will also reflect on what home means to them personally, and the important role that language and culture play in shaping that sense of belonging.

Send a message to ploen@vleeshal.nl to book an education workshop.

Events

27 October – 12 December 2025

Education workshop: Listen, Feel, Felt