Knowledge and controversies about colonial violence, anti-colonial
resistance, human remains and objects from the former colonies in
museums and collections
Exhibition period: November 9, 2018 – January 19, 2019
The
history of colonial violence is remembered in very different ways. It
affects individual and collective memories of descendants of the
victims. It is deeply related to museums and collections where human
remains and objects from the former colonies are kept. It is part of the
history of universities – including the Humboldt-Universität – where
collections were interpreted, contributing to the scientific
justification of colonialism and racism.
Discussing what should
be remembered, how and where the material evidence should be kept
depends on who is speaking. In four chapters,
The Dead, as far as [ ] can remember shows
the diversity of knowledge and controversies about the colonial past
with transnational voices from the past and the present, visual and
performing artists, academic researchers, museum staff, and decolonial
activists.
The exhibition is accompanied by a series of
performances, lectures and discussions that link the current state of
research at the Humboldt-Universität with non-academic perspectives.
Mangi Meli Remains
In
Old Moshi, Tanzania, a head is missing. The head is of Chief Meli who
fought the German colonial occupation of territory in Kilimanjaro and
was executed as a result in 1900. His head is said to have been shipped
to Germany at the request of the Ethnological Museum director Felix von
Luschan. Von Luschan collected thousands of skulls from all over the
world for scientific testing based on racial ideology. Many of the
skulls, including those from Old Moshi, are still stored in Berlin. The
search for the head of Chief Meli has been ongoing for over 50 years,
led by Meli’s grandson but until now without success.
Yet traces of
Chief Meli can still be found in songs, stories and archives. This has
formed the basis for a Tanzanian-German collaboration where a video
installation depicts the life story of Meli: as a freedom fighter, his
violent death and the possible journey of his head. Re-examined
historical photographs and documents complement the exhibition. Mangi Meli Remains will
travel from Berlin via Dar es Salaam to Old Moshi, where the exhibition
will remain as a place of remembrance and a placeholder for Chief
Meli’s missing head.
Schädel X – Postcolonial Lecture Performance by Flinn Works is a part of
Mangi Meli Remains and will be performed at TA T on the 26th of October and the 3rd and 9th of November 2018.
Dead Images Methods
of collecting, measuring, categorising, storing and displaying skulls,
developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, were entangled in
colonialism and scientific racism. Anthropometric, ‘type’ and other
forms of anthropological photography – developed as tools to measure,
classify and racialise the living – flourished alongside the research on
the remains of the dead.
Dead Images is an exploration of
the complex and contentious legacy of two collections held at the
anthropology department of the Natural History Museum in Vienna. One
collection consists of over 40,000 human skulls. Housed within this
collection is a second collection of over 50,000 anthropological
photographs. Through multidisciplinary research, a travelling
exhibition, an education programme and public events, the
Dead Images project reflects on the ethical, scientific and political implications of such collections and of their display.
Breaking the Silence I - The Anger of Mdachi bin SharifuIn
the late summer of 1919, shortly after Germany´s final loss of its
colonies, a young East African named Mdachi bin Sharifu appears in
several cities as a speaker on »Our colonial past«. In Berlin, Erfurt
and Hamburg it is the first time that a black person rises to speak in
this regard. But that is not the only reason why his appearances cause
violent reactions from the white audience. Following the governmental
repression of a petition by the Afro-German community surrounding Martin
Dibobe from Cameroon, Sharifu is now judging publicly both the German
colonial regime and the ongoing colonial racism in Germany.
Based on
selected photographs from the collection of the plantation owner Karl
Vieweg, which the embassy of Tanzania has kindly provided, the
exhibition of Berlin Postkolonial questions the long-lived myth of the
loyalty of the colonized to the German Empire.
Just listen – Voices on politics of remembrance and German colonial historyTo
this day, colonial racism characterizes the coexistence of people
worldwide. Nevertheless, and for that very reason, the topic is not
given much attention in Europe and the US. The West does not like to
talk about the time of its violent expansion, about enslavement and
genocide – certainly not with the descendants of colonised people
themselves.
Just Listen is a cooperation project of students
of the Freie Universität Berlin in cooperation with Leftvision and
Berlin Postkolonial and should give an impulse to engage critically with
the history and the continuities of colonialism. Just Listen
therefore focuses on the perspectives of people who are affected by
these continuities. In interviews, activists and experts who have been
advocating a responsible approach to colonialism and racism for many
years now, address important questions about appropriate dealings with
the German colonial era.
Events
26.10./3.11./9.11.2018, 8 p.m.
Schädel X Lecture performance by Flinn Works (German)
Tickets: www.reservix.de
20.11.2018, 7 p.m.
Artistic Research and Creative Praxis on Colonial Collections and (post)colonial Cultures of Memory (English)
Panel discussion with Amani Abeid, Anaïs Héraud-Louisadat, Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro (tbc), Dr. Lili Reyels
Chair: Anne Fleckstein
8.12.2018, 7 p.m.
Verlorene Form. Eine transdisziplinäre Auseinandersetzung mit Lebendabgüssen in Gips (German)
Presentation by Dr. Britta Lange, Thomas Schelper, Kerstin Stoll
17.01.2019, 7 p.m.
Provenienzforschung zwischen Forensik und Erinnerungskultur (German)
Discussion with Dr. Larissa Förster and Dr. Holger Stoecker
Chair: Felix Sattler
Impress
Mangi Meli Remains
A
Flinn Works production in cooperation with the Ethnological Museum
Berlin. Funded by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, the
Goethe-Institut Tanzania and Between Bridges.
Dead Images
Created
by Tal Adler (artist, CARMAH Humboldt-Universität) with Linda Fibiger
(bio-archeologist, University of Edinburgh), John Harries (social
anthropologist, University of Edinburgh), Joan Smith (artist, Edinburgh
College of Art), Anna Szöke (art historian, CARMAH Humboldt-Universität)
and Maria Teschler-Nicola (physical anthropologist, NHM Vienna). Dead Images is part of the EU H2020 project TRACES.
Breaking the Silence I - The Anger of Mdachi bin Sharifu
Created
by Berlin Postkolonial. Thanks to the Embassy of the United Republic of
Tanzania, the Stiftung Nord-Süd-Brücken, the Berliner Landesstelle für
Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, Engagement Global on behalf of the
Bundesministeriums für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung,
and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.
Just listen – Voices on politics of remembrance and German colonial history
Created by students of the Freie Universität Berlin in cooperation with Leftvision and Berlin Postkolonial.
The Dead, as far as [ ] can remember is
curated by Felix Sattler. The exhibition is part of the programme of
the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin during the Berlin Science Week.