Young Heritage: hip-hop culture in Heerlen
ExhibitionDate: to
Location: SCHUNCK Glass Palace
What do we actually preserve as heritage? With the new program line Young Heritage, SCHUNCK investigates the traces of youth culture in Heerlen. The first edition, about Heerlen hip-hop, opens during IBE 2025 with work by photographer Tyson Ernste.
What does a stack of cassette tapes, a pair of worn-out sneakers or a flyer from the early 2000s say about a city? With Jong Erfgoed, SCHUNCK starts a new series of presentations in which objects from Heerlen's youth culture are given a place in the museum. The first edition can be seen from August 15 and focuses on the Heerlen hip-hop scene, with photographer Tyson Ernste as the central figure.
On the void in the main hall of the Glass Palace, Tyson will display objects from his personal archive - records, Polaroid photos, posters and other tangible memories of the early hip-hop years in Heerlen. He will also present a photo exhibition that brings together street culture, identity and the search for connection between worlds. His journey through Heerlen's hip-hop scene once began in the Glass Palace, where he met with others as a teenager to break out. Later, his perspective shifted to the camera, with which he began to record his surroundings - first in Heerlen, and later in Indonesia, his other home.
The exhibition traces this development and shows how a subculture like hip-hop permeates personal life stories and urban contexts.
Tyson Ernste (1990, Heerlen)
Tyson is a photographer. He grew up in Heerlen and from the 1990s was part of the first generation of hip-hop enthusiasts in the city. As a teenager, he was active as a breakdancer and found a place for expression and community in the local scene. His work explores personal stories, street culture and themes of migration and home. Tyson graduated from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU).
About Jong Erfgoed
With Jong Erfgoed SCHUNCK investigates how subcultures from the 1980s onward helped shape Heerlen's collective memory. From punk, hip-hop and graffiti to skating, street fashion, MySpace and youth centers: what do we keep, and why? Several times a year, objects and stories from a specific scene are presented in a specially designed cabinet on the mezzanine.
The photo exhibition is on view through Sept. 26, 2025, the cabinet through the end of January 2026. This program was created in collaboration with Kool Cult.