People Humanity Rule of Law

Which traumatic events from the past do we commemorate as a society?

'Cups of Memory' exhibition of Arna Mačkić & Aida Šehović at Kunstmuseum The Hague

2 min read 8 Jul 2025

Which traumatic events from the past do we commemorate as a society? And how does a community build a monument for an act of genocide that some would prefer to have wiped from our memories?

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On 11 July 2025 it will be exactly 30 years since the genocide in Srebrenica took place. In Cups of Memory architect Arna Mačkić (Studio L A) and artist Aida Šehović (ŠTO TE NEMA), both survivors of the Bosnian War (1992-1995), will present a new interpretation of remembrance, in which art, collective memory and shared rituals not only reflect on the past, but confront its long-term consequences that continue to shape our present.

30 years since Srebrenica

A horrific tragedy unfolded in the area of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 11 July 1995, when the Bosnian-Serb Army murdered more than 8,372 Muslim men and boys. The UN Dutchbat battalion, which was charged with protecting them, did not intervene. It was the biggest act of genocide in Europe since the Second World War. Yet, thirty years on, this event is still not part of the Dutch collective memory and remains absent from the national culture of remembrance.

Exhibition

Why are you not here?

Cups of Memory is based on the art project ŠTO TE NEMA (‘Why are you not here?’), a participatory monument of remembrance presented on city squares around the world. Aida Šehović initiated the project on 11 July 2006 with a public performance in Sarajevo, for which a local women’s organisation collected the first 923 fildžani, traditional coffee cups. The porcelain cups were placed in the street and passers-by were invited to fill them with Bosnian coffee, which remained untouched. This silent but powerful act of remembrance was repeated every year on public squares across the globe, from Geneva to New York and from Istanbul to Toronto. There is now a fildžan for each of the (at least) 8,732 victims. The first 923 cups will be on display in the Netherlands for the first time.

Reflection and hope

In Cups of Memory, Mačkić and Šehović reconstitute the temporary monument, surrounded by images and stories of survivors and descendants, witnesses and others. These stories are brought to life in a number of ways, including in the Srebrenica is Dutch History project, which Mačkić made in 2020 in collaboration with the Bosnian Girl collective and photographer Robin de Puy. The makers will thus offer a place for reflection, hope and a collective quest for a world free of genocide.

“Exactly thirty years after the genocide in Srebrenica Mačkić and Šehović have created a poignant and meaningful exhibition about a subject that is still topical today. Despite the Netherlands’ role in this tragedy, there has still been no compelling acknowledgement of the victims. It is particularly important that, here in The Hague – the city of peace and justice and the home of the Yugoslavia Tribunal – we stop and consider the lived experience of the different groups involved in this same history, each from their own perspective. At KM21 these stories will come together, forming a temporary monument in a city where the community affected still craves a permanent place of remembrance.”

Margriet Schavemaker, general director

Cups

Cups of Memory conversations

On 21 September 2025, KM21 will host the Cups of Memory conversations. An afternoon in which several speakers will discuss the stories of the exhibition, the history of the genocide in Srebrenica, remembrance rituals and more More details will be posted in due course on km21.nl.