BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:adamgibbons/ics METHOD:PUBLISH X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VEVENT UID:21059@offbeat.amsterdam SUMMARY:Transfixions: in conversation with Shola von Reinhold DTSTAMP:20260421T192607Z DTSTART:20260521T180000Z DESCRIPTION:The Research Center for Material Culture at the Wereldmuseum Am sterdam is\npleased to invite author Shola von Reinhold for a book talk an d conversation on\nher novel LOTE. The conversation will delve into the qu estions around archival\npractices of subjugation and objectification base d on the novel’s pursuit of\naesthetics and beauty that occurs whilst atte mpting to ‘recover’ forgotten\nartistic and literary figures of the past. By doing so\, the novel interrogates\nthe removal and obscurement of Black figures from history. These archival\nfigures become ‘Transfixions’ withi n Shola’s writing.\n\nThe talk will be moderated by researcher and artist Carine Zaayman.\n\n\nABOUT THE BOOK\n\n\nSolitary Mathilda has long harbor ed a conflicted enchantment bordering on\nrapture with the “Bright Young T hings\,” the Bloomsbury Group\, and their\ncontemporaries of the ’20s and ’30s\, and throughout her life her attempts at\nreinvention have mirrored their extravagance and artfulness. After discovering a\nphotograph of the forgotten Black modernist poet Hermia Druitt\, who ran in the\nsame circle s as the Bright Young Things\, Mathilda becomes transfixed and\nresolves t o learn as much as she can about the mysterious figure. Her search\nbrings her to a peculiar artists’ residency in Dun\, a small European town in\nw hich Hermia was known to have lived during the ’30s. The artists’ residenc y\nthrows her deeper into a lattice of secrets and secret societies that t akes hold\nof her aesthetic imagination. From champagne theft and Black Mo dernisms to art\nsabotage\, alchemy\, and a lotus-eating proto-luxury comm unist cult\, Mathilda’s\n“Escapes” through modes of aesthetic expression l ead her to question the\nconvoluted ways truth is made and obscured.\n\n\n SPEAKERS\n\nShola von Reinhold is a writer and artist from Scotland. Her f irst novel LOTE\nwon the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the James Tai t Black prize for\nfiction. Her second book\, The Rebis Book is out in Oct ober 2026 and with Montez\nPress.\n\nCarine Zaayman is an artist\, curator \, researcher and research coordinator at the\nResearch Center for Materia l Culture/Wereldmuseum. She is committed to a radical\nreconsideration of colonial archives and museum collections. URL:https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/transfixions-in-conversation-with-shola -von-reinhold GEO:52.3685931;4.8896879 LOCATION:SPUI25 - Spui 25-27\, 1012 WX Amsterdam STATUS:CONFIRMED CATEGORIES:amsterdam-centrum,books,spui,talk X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

The Research Center for Material Culture at the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam is pleased to invite author Shola von Reinhold for a book talk and conversation on her novel LOTE. The conversa tion will delve into the questions around archival practices of subjugatio n and objectification based on the novel’s pursuit of aesthetics and beaut y that occurs whilst attempting to ‘recover’ forgotten artistic and litera ry figures of the past. By doing so, the novel interrogates the removal an d obscurement of Black figures from history. These archival figures become ‘Transfixions’ within Shola’s writing.

The talk will be moderated by researcher and artist Carine Zaayman.

About the book

Solitary Mathilda has long harbored a conflicted ench antment bordering on rapture with the “Bright Young Things,” the Bloomsbur y Group, and their contemporaries of the ’20s and ’30s, and throughout her life her attempts at reinvention have mirrored their extravagance and art fulness. After discovering a photograph of the forgotten Black modernist p oet Hermia Druitt, who ran in the same circles as the Bright Young Things, Mathilda becomes transfixed and resolves to learn as much as she can abou t the mysterious figure. Her search brings her to a peculiar artists’ resi dency in Dun, a small European town in which Hermia was known to have live d during the ’30s. The artists’ residency throws her deeper into a lattice of secrets and secret societies that takes hold of her aesthetic imaginat ion. From champagne theft and Black Modernisms to art sabotage, alchemy, a nd a lotus-eating proto-luxury communist cult, Mathilda’s “Escapes” throug h modes of aesthetic expression lead her to question the convoluted ways t ruth is made and obscured.

Speakers

Shola von Reinhold is a writer and artist from Scotl and. Her first novel LOTE won the Republic of Consciousness Prize and the James Tait Black prize for fiction. Her second book, The Rebi s Book is out in October 2026 and with Montez Press.

Carine Zaayman is an artist, curator, researcher and rese arch coordinator at the Research Center for Material Culture/Wereldmuseum. She is committed to a radical reconsideration of colonial archives and mu seum collections.

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