Kigiilya. Ein Objekt ist (k)ein Objekt

Exhibitions on the topic of colonialism are a challenge especially for curators with a critical perspective on racism: A large part of the objects that could be shown originate from colonial - i.e. violent - contexts themselves and thus prolong the historical violence into the present.

Moreover, the artifacts that can be drawn upon mostly reflect the perspective of the colonizers. This can be seen, for example, in the object designations, which often repeat colonial-racist ideas. This is another reason why exhibitions that approach the topic of colonialism in its intertwining with racism and contemporary discourses increasingly include artistic interventions.

Starting with the human sculpture "kigiilya," we illuminate artistic interventions in the context of exhibitions critical of colonialism and in relation to museum logics of categorization. In conversation with Christopher Nixon, we take up the question of what makes an object an object. How can artifacts that have been torn from their societies of origin escape object status? How do artistic interventions relate to historical artifacts?

PARTICIPANTS

Josephine Apraku is an African studies scholar, author, and trainer in intersectional education critical of racism. As a lecturer, Josephine Apraku has taught at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences and the Humboldt University of Berlin, among others. In addition, Josephine Apraku has written as a columnist for magazines such as Missy Magazine, Edition F and the Berliner Tagesspiegel. Her*his latest book, "Divide and Love - Why Social Inequality Divides Us in Love Relationships and How We Find Each Other," was published by Eden Books in September 2022.

Christopher A. Nixon has held the professorship of Social Inequality and Social Policy at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences since January 2023. He was previously a research associate at the Department of Political Theory and History of Ideas at Dresden University of Technology. In 2020-2021, he worked as curator for colonial past and postcolonial present at the Stiftung Historische Museen Hamburg, where he curated an exhibition on the colonial intertwining of Hamburg's industry. His research interests are postcolonial, critical and political theory, aesthetics, social philosophy.

- Language: German

- from 16 years

- Group size: maximum 25 persons