Δ GREEN SKY, BLUE GRASS. Colour Coding Worlds

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. These can sometimes differ enormously depending on the language and culture involved.

It all means that colour is not necessarily universal. As an example, the meaning of the Japanese word ao is not identical to the English term blue. This is also the case with midori, which is quite distinct from green. Thus, Japanese poetry can absolutely describe a “green sky” and “blue grass” – the European way of seeing things is turned upside down.

With around 200 exhibits from the collections of the Weltkulturen Museum, including objects from New Guinea, Polynesia, the Amazon region, East Africa, Tibet and Java, the exhibition examines the wide range of contextual meanings for colour as a cultural phenomenon.

A central theme in this exhibition addresses the diverse cultural concepts associated with colour, because colour codes worlds: colours are often associated with manifold social and cosmological notions that help people find their way in the world, making sense of it and regulating how they live with each other. Exploring the meanings of the different understandings of colour means viewing cultural relationships in a new light, which in turn allows us to discover other worldviews.

1. Accompanying publication
   The exhibition will be accompanied by an in-depth catalogue called “Green Sky, Blue Grass”, which includes a lavish selection of visual material. The interdisciplinary articles in this publication examine the themes of the exhibition in greater detail and present thought-provoking ideas about colour as a cultural phenomenon.
   
   Including scholarly contributions by Tomi Bartole, Eystein Dahl, Roger Erb, Frauke Gathof, Vanessa von Gliszczynski, Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin, Matthias Claudius Hofmann, Arno Holl, Eric Huntington, Olaf L. Müller, Eva Ch. Raabe, Gustaaf Verswijver as well as Chantal Courtois in conversation with René Fuerst.
   
   The catalogue is published in German and English by Kerber Verlag.

1. Curators
   Head curator: Matthias Claudius Hofmann
   Co-curators: Tomi Batole, Roger Erb, Vanessa von Gliszczynski, Arno Holl
2. Adress, Opening hours, Prices
   Weltkulturen Museum
   Schaumainkai 29
   60594 Frankfurt am Main
   
   €7 / reduced €3.50
   Free admission for children and teenagers under the age of 18
   
   Opening times: Wed.–Sun. 11am – 6 pm , Wed. 11 am – 8 pm
3. Safety Guidelines
   - Please show one of the following proofs when entering the museum: Vaccination certificate (digital or vaccination card) or proof of recovery.
   - Please keep a distance of at least 1.5 m in the entrance and at the counter.
   - Protective masks are mandatory. Please cover mouth and nose. We sell simple protection masks at the counter.
   - Please keep a security distance of at least 1.5 m from visitors and guards.
   - Please sneeze and cough in the crook of your arm, wash or disinfect your hands regularly.
   - People with acute illness must not visit the museum.
   - Please use the marked separate exit.

 

You can find our events here.

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Δ 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?

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.

About the Intervention: Zoom talk with Njoki Ngumi and Jim Chuchu from Nest Collective

1. INTERVENTION BY ARTIST COLLECTIVE THE NEST (2 November - 5 December 21)
   
   Is there an appropriate way for us to present objects from Kenya in the Weltkulturen Museum when they are not visible in their country of origin? We have discussed this question exhaustively with all the participants in the International Inventories Programme. Staff at the museum found it important to present a selection of objects from Kenya alongside the stories of their provenance in the exhibition. However, other participants did not want to display the objects because it was not possible for them to be physically included in the exhibition in Nairobi, and in Western museums such objects are all too often viewed as representations of “exoticism”.
   
   Thus, in order to render visible the wide range of voices in our team, the room where the objects from the collection have hitherto been displayed will be redesigned in the course of the exhibition. From Tuesday, 2 November until Sunday, 5 December you will be able to see the intervention by artist collective The Nest as part of the exhibition. In their sound installation “Invisible Conversations”, Njoki Ngumi and Jim Chuchu discuss collectors’ biographies and objects of national importance.

1. INTERVENTION BY ARTIST COLLECTIVE SHIFT (7 December 21- 9 January 22)
   
   Is there an appropriate way for us to present objects from Kenya in the Weltkulturen Museum when they are not visible in their country of origin?
   We have discussed this question exhaustively with all the participants in the International Inventories Programme. Staff at the museum found it important to present a selection of objects from Kenya alongside the stories of their provenance in the exhibition. However, other participants did not want to display the objects because it was not possible for them to be physically included in the exhibition in Nairobi, and in Western museums such objects are all too often viewed as representations of “exoticism”.
   
   SHIFT (Sam Hopkins, Marian Nur Goni, Simon Rittmeier) is a transnational collective working on the intersection of art and research, particularly on issues related to African objects diaspora in the aftermath of colonialism. As co-founding partners of the International Inventories Programme (www.inventoriesprogramme.org) they work at the intersection of art and activism. In their spatial installation "A Topography of Loss / Eine Topographie des Verlustes", the artists address the question of the voids left behind by the Kenyan objects that are now in German museums. Using the example of three belts from the Kamba community that have been in the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne since 1906, they address the moral obligation of German institutions to act now. In a video work, a textile print and photographs, the artists create an imaginary map to make these voids visible. They experiment with 3D printing techniques and ask questions about digital reproduction.

About the intervention: SHIFT and the curators of the exhibition. Film: herr willie

1. 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)
   National Museums of Kenya: 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) 

1. Adress, Opening hours, Prices
   Weltkulturen Labor
   Schaumainkai 37
   60594 Frankfurt am Main
   
   €3.50 / reduced €1.50
   Children and young adults up to 18 years free
   
   Opening times
   Tues – Sun, 11am – 6pm
   Wed, 11am – 8pm

In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Nairobi

Funded by 

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