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Tuesday, 5. October 2021 - 14:00
∇ HYBRID EXHIBITION OPENING
“Invisible Inventories: Questioning Kenyan Collections in Western Museums”Δ HYBRID EXHIBITION OPENING
Snuff box (Frankfurt); Kamba, Kenya, 19th / 20th century; Horn, leather, iron; Artist/craftsperson: not documented; Collector: probably Carl Georg Schillings; Previous owner: Königlichen Zoologischen und Anthropologisch-Ethnographischen Museum (now: Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden); In the Weltkulturen Museum since 1910; Photo: Peter Wolff
Kamba figure (Frankfurt); Kamba, Kenya, 1974; Wood; Artist: Joseph Mulli; Collector: Dr Johanna Agthe; In the Weltkulturen Museum since 1974; Photo: Peter Wolff
Hirizi, Necklace (Talisman/Charm); Swahili, Kenya, 20th century Silver; Artist/craftsperson: not documented; Collector: Dr Johanna Agthe; In the Weltkulturen Museum since 1974; Photo: Peter Wolff
Ndoome, ‘Dance Shield’; Kikuyu, Kenya; 19th/20th century; Wood, colour pigments; Artist/craftsperson: not documented; Dealer: William Ockleford Oldman; In the Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main since 1911; Photo: Peter Wolff
Kanga on the 8th anniversary of Kenya's independence (12.12.1971); Cotton; Producer: Tasini, Tanzania, 1971; Collector: Dr Johanna Agthe; In the Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main since 1974; Photo: Peter Wolff
Hirizi ya fedha, Amulet (protective silver amulet); Swahili, Kenya, 20th century; Silver; Artist/craftsperson: unknown goldsmith in Mombasa; Collector: Dr Johanna Agthe; In the Weltkulturen Museum since 1974; Photo: Peter Wolff
Finger ring; Swahili (?), Kenya, 20th century; Coin, silver; Artist/craftsperson: not documented; Collector: Dr Johanna Agthe; In the Weltkulturen Museum since 1974, Photo: Peter Wolff
Elongo, Shield; Maasai, Kenya, 19th/20th century; Wood, buffalo skin; Artist/craftsperson: not documented; Previous owner: The Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, London, Great Britain; In the Weltkulturen Museum Frankfurt since 1955; Photo: Peter Wolff
“Invisible Inventories: Questioning Kenyan Collections in Western Museums”
We are delighted that we can invite you to join us online for the hybrid opening of the exhibition “Invisible Inventories: Questioning Kenyan Collections in Western Museums”.
***You can watch the live broadcast of the exhibition opening here.***
How can we make Kenyan cultural assets that are possessed by institutions in the Global North accessible to present-day Kenyan society?
Since 2018, this question has been addressed by the International Inventories Programme (IIP), 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. Following exhibitions in Nairobi (18.3.–30.5.2021) and Cologne (28.5.–29.8.2021), the visualisation of this database will now be presented in the Weltkulturen Museum along with further scholarly and artistic contributions.
As well as negotiating issues about restitution, a forum will be created for addressing individual objects from intellectual and emotional points of view. The exhibition also deals with the psychological and political consequences of the loss or absence of certain objects from the societies in which they were created. Perspectives and voices from Kenya are central to the approach taken at the Weltkulturen Museum. There are works on show by artist collectives The Nest and SHIFT, interviews with members of local Kenyan societies, footage from the discussions organised by the project, and the results of joint research on objects from the collection. In order to highlight the diverse range of opinions about how these objects should be presented, the artist collectives will redesign a room of the exhibition during its runtime: this will turn the museum display itself into a subject for debate.
- Participating scholars and artists:
The Nest Collective: Jim Chuchu, Njoki Ngumi (Kenya)
SHIFT collective: Sam Hopkins (Kenya/Germany), Marian Nur Goni (France), Simon Rittmeier (Germany)
Nairobi National Museum: Lydia Nafula, Philemon Nyamanga, George Juma Ondeng’, Njeri Gachihi, Lydia Galavu and the Tuzi collective (Kenia)
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum: Clara Himmelheber (Germany)
Weltkulturen Museum: Julia Friedel, Leonie Neumann, Frauke Gathof (Germany)
***THE OPENING WILL BE BROADCASTET LIVE ON HTTPS://WWW.WELTKULTURENMUSEUM.DE/DE/MUSEUM/EROEFFNUNG-IIP/***
schließen
