Oemoemenoe: DIAM! - what silence carries
Tjaka Tomas
Residency
11 December 2026
6 – 8 pm
Stichting Mae Uku, Oost-Souburg
Free Entrance
RSVP
DIAM! - what silence carries is a sonic exploration of space and the ongoing echoes lived between Zeeland and Maluku through docks, seascapes and Tifa rhythm by multidisciplinary artist Tjaka Tomas.
Entrance to this event is free, but there is a limited capacity at the venue. We therefore ask you to reserve a ticket beforehand through the link below.
On December 11, DIAM! will have its final performance hosted at Stichting Mae Uku in Oost-Souburg. This will culminate a three-month sonic research process pursuing the question of ‘what silence carries’ – both as remembrance and a celebration of Moluccan presence in Zeeland.
The project launched on Saturday October 3 with a live performance in collaboration with the Stichting Mae Uku Tifa Group, and unfolds with interviews among community members as well as former government officials, visits to national sound archives and development feedback from artistic peers.
Tjaka Tomas works across artforms - sound, theater, storytelling, drawing, DJing - with a focus on bringing people together and opening spaces of dialogue. Always working intuitively, Tjaka Tomas prioritises connecting people with what is not yet spoken or known; always inviting visitors, collaborators and listeners to be themselves.
DIAM! is joined by sound researcher and theorist meLê Yamomo, Assistant Professor of New Dramaturgies, Media Cultures, Artistic Research, and Decoloniality at the University of Amsterdam, as well as project lead of the ‘Sonic Entanglements’ research project. Through this collaboration DIAM! will come into contact not only with significant sound archives held in the Netherlands, but also with fellow sound-makers and researchers from South East Asia and including Maluku undertaking research in the Netherlands during this period. DIAM! takes place alongside Vleeshal’s fall exhibition by Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, in which unexploded weapons from the Vietnam War are transformed into objects of balance, flow and healing. The central sculpture of the exhibition is tuned to 685 Hz, a frequency used in Buddhism and in the treatment of post-traumatic disorders.
Events
11 December
Oemoemenoe: DIAM! - what silence carries
6 – 8 pm
Stichting Mae Uku, Oost-Souburg
Persons
Series
For Vleeshal’s site-specific series Oemoemenoe [An expression from Zeeland for “how should we proceed now?”], artists are invited to develop a project in collaboration with local associations and businesses in Zeeland, such as a sports club, an airport, or a farm. Contemporary art is connected to various special places in Zeeland, where artists provide possible directions on which way to go.
AIRZeeland is a residency platform co-convened by Mostly Modern Festival, Theaterproductiehuis Zeeland and Vleeshal with the support of Provincie Zeeland. AIRZeeland supports new perspectives in Zeeland, emerging ideas, and cross-disciplinary experimentation.
DIAM! – what silence carries is an AIRZeeland residency undertaken in collaboration with Stichting Mae Uku, and supported by Regio Deal North Sea Port District / Provincie Zeeland.
