After completing his Bachelor's Degree in History and a Master's Degree in Museum Studies at the University of Amsterdam, Barend worked in several museums both as a curator, guide and researcher. He began at the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam, where he was initially invited because of his thesis on memorials, but he ending up researching Jewish food culture! This was a complete change of subject, but one that ideally suited Barend’s many interests.

In Museum het Schip, Barend curated several exhibitions on the Amsterdam School, an architectural style unique to the Netherlands. At the Rijksmuseum he worked in the field in which he majored: the manifestation of colonial history in museums in the Netherlands. Here, he researched the provenance history of holy heirlooms of the Javanese prince Diponegoro.

In all of the museums he's worked in, he has encountered stories about works of art and historic objects that have been lost over the years. His latest project involves creating a podcast in which he traces down their histories and, with luck, the objects themselves. He looks forward to sharing his love for ‘forgotten’ histories with you on his tour.