Δ VIRTUAL EXHIBITION MEET UP WITH THE NEST COLLECTIVE

A first look into the exhibition “Invisible Inventories: Questioning Kenyan Collections in Western Museums” in Nairobi

How can we make Kenyan cultural assets that are possessed by institutions in the Global North accessible to present-day Kenyan society. This question is addressed by the International Inventories Programme, which brings together Kenyan and European artists and scholars.

The core aim of the project is to develop a database of all Kenyan objects in European and North American museums. A visualisation of this database will now be presented along with further scholarly and artistic contributions to the project in the exhibition “Invisible Inventories”, held at the three participating museums.

The works include explorations of specific Kenyan objects from the collections of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum and the Weltkulturen Museum, as well as the ways in which these objects are culturally interlinked, and how in each case they were appropriated by museums in the Global North. Rather than focusing on concrete issues about restitution there is an emphasis on creating a forum for investigating individual objects at an intellectual and emotional level. The exhibition also deals with the psychological and political consequences of the loss or absence of certain objects from the society in which they were created.

Virtual tour live on Instagram: @thisisthenest

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Δ ***Fully booked*** ONLINE CURATOR'S GUIDED TOUR

“GREEN SKY, BLUE GRASS. Colour coding worlds”

with curator Matthias Claudius Hofmann (curator Oceania) and co-curator Vanessa von Gliszczynski (curator Southeast Asia)

Our world is full of colour, but do all cultures see it in the same way? While the scientific basis for perception is identical for everyone, light waves can’t really explain how we name our impressions of colour, the number (and kind) of categories we divide these colours into, or the meanings and associations we ascribe to them.

Using various objects from the exhibition, curator Matthias Claudius Hofmann and co-curator Vanessa von Gliszczynski show how perception of colour sometimes differs enormously depending on the language and culture involved.

Zoom lecture and talk.

Free of charge.
Please book in advance until 8th April, 12 pm:

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Δ ONLINE ARTIST TALK WITH THE NEST COLLECTIVE, SHIFT COLLECTIVE, TUZI

“Invisible Inventories: Questioning Kenyan Collections in Western Museums”

How can we make Kenyan cultural assets that are possessed by institutions in the Global North accessible to present-day Kenyan society. This question is addressed by the International Inventories Programme, which brings together Kenyan and European artists and scholars.

The core aim of the project is to develop a database of all Kenyan objects in European and North American museums. A visualisation of this database will now be presented along with further scholarly and artistic contributions to the project in the exhibition “Invisible Inventories”, held at the three participating museums. The works include explorations of specific Kenyan objects from the collections of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum and the Weltkulturen Museum, as well as the ways in which these objects are culturally interlinked, and how in each case they were appropriated by museums in the Global North. Rather than focusing on concrete issues about restitution there is an emphasis on creating a forum for investigating individual objects at an intellectual and emotional level. The exhibition also deals with the psychological and political consequences of the loss or absence of certain objects from the society in which they were created.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEI7xNa6803d_ghA5c-6E4g

Live talk on youtube. No registration necessary.


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Δ Object Movement Dialogue

As part of the first Invisible Inventories exhibition, which is currently on display at the National Museum of Kenya, the International Inventories Programme (IIP) is hosting its seventh Object Movement Dialogue.

The conversation will be broadcast live on Facebook (@inventoriesprogramme).

This time, the event titled Community Voices will revolve around the perspectives of local communities from Kenya. Together with moderator Juma Ondeng' (National Museums of Kenya and member of the IIP), JC Niala (Head of the Africa Department of the Horniman Museum), Charles Leshore (Director of the Maa Cultures Museum) and Mzee Tiberious Otieno (Luo activist and cultural expert) will discuss how cultural artefacts have been stolen from Kenya since the beginning of colonial times until today, and what impact their absence has on the communities of origin.

Specific reference is made to selected objects and their cultural significance that are represented in the current exhibition. Some of these are currently in the collections of the IIP's two German partner museums, the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne and the Weltkulturenmuseum in Frankfurt am Main, and were examined in greater detail as part of the exhibition in a cooperation between the German and Kenyan museum experts.

1. Moderation
   Juma Ondeng’ studied heritage and international development at the University of East Anglia, UK. He has been involved in training programmes on the institution of museums in the East African region, focusing on collections care, exhibitions, museum education and outreach. He is currently the chief curator at the regional museum in western Kenya, Kitale Museum. He is a founding member of the International Inventories Programme.
2. Panellists
   JC Niala, a Kenyan academic who is currently Head of the Africa Department at the Horniman Museum in London. Niala is also an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Warwick. She bases her creative work on historical and anthropological research.
   
   
   Charles Leshore is Director of the Maa Cultures Museum, a museum of traditional culture of the Maasai and other Maa language communities.
   
   Mzee Tiberious Otieno is a cultural activist, Luo cultural expert and retired secondary school teacher.

The International Inventories Programme is a project of the artist collectives The Nest (Kenya) and SHIFT (Germany/France), the National Museums of Kenya, the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne, the Weltkulturen Museum in Frankfurt am Main and the Goethe-Institut. The exhibition project "Invisible Inventories" is funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

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Δ ***Fully booked*** ONLINE GUIDED TOUR

“GREEN SKY, BLUE GRASS. Colour coding worlds”

with Oliver Hahn, research assistant

Our world is full of colour, but do all cultures see it in the same way? While the scientific basis for perception is identical for everyone, light waves can’t really explain how we name our impressions of colour, the number (and kind) of categories we divide these colours into, or the meanings and associations we ascribe to them.

Using various objects from the exhibition, Oliver Hahn shows how perception of colour sometimes differs enormously depending on the language and culture involved.

Zoom lecture and talk.

Free of charge.
Please book in advance until 22nd April, 12 pm:

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Δ ***Fully booked*** ONLINE-WORKSHOP FOR CHILDREN

Satourday “Sometimes I dream in colours”

Whether it’s cherry red, curry yellow or sky blue, colours can give us a taste for something, attract our attention or warn us of dangers. So how do we actually communicate with colours? And what role do they play in our everyday lives?

In this workshop we will look around the exhibition “GREEN SKY, BLUE GRASS. Colour coding worlds” virtually and capture our experiences in a colour collage.

Online workshop for families with children from 6 years old.
Free of charge
Please book in advance: oder 069 212 39898

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