In this second volume of the Annual Future Review by the University of Amsteram’s Heritage and Memory Studies programme, the 2026 cohort reflects on the new age of institutional heritage and memory practices. Through a collection of short essays, the students explore what makes heritage meaningful and how to make heritage feel alive and human.
While completing five-month internships in the field, many authors felt a disconnect between academia, lived experience, and the heritage industry. That is to say, we identified a gap between critical theory and practice – hence the title of the series. Mind the Gap.
Additionally, how we shape collective memroy and the heritage that contains it becomes easily commodified and simplified to an extent where we lose the complexity of our cultural history and are left with only abstract glimpses of who we are searching for. In letters and reviews spanning four categories – Contested Heritage, Heritage Technologies, Art and the Archive, and Field Commentary – our authors share their outlook on these questions and dilemmas.
The resulting reflections can be destabilizing – but also, we hope, enlightening and even inspiring.
Table of Contents:
01 Contested Heritage // The Gap in the Field: How to Build a Bridge – Ashanti G. // Awareness of Difficult Heritage in the Local Netherlands – Claire v. D. // White Cube / Liminal Space – H. M. Lowe // Contested Detested Heritage: The Brit Abroad Case Study – Anonymous
02 Heritage Technologies // What Happens when Heritage Becomes Searchable? – Michalina S. // The Billionaire’s Grip on the Memory of the State – Georgia V. // When Google Speaks Silesian – Julia K.
03 Art & the Archive // Moments Contained – Carlijn S. // We have an Apocalypse Problem – Krista J. // Frontline Rolls: Sergey Milnitchenko’s Handmade Archive from the Ukrainian Front Line – Vita S.
04 Field Commentary // Where is Home? On Hospitality, Restitution, and Repair – Emilia B. // Tourism: A Means to Heritage End, or an End in Itself – Redacted // Reckoning with Hierarchies – Anonymous
PDF of the full Annual Review Report can be found here. To protect their identity, all contributors have abbreviated or anonymized their names. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments or drop us a line via the programme email address.