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Lives of Objects

A black man hangs upside down in a dance ©Theo Eshetu, 2020

Decoloniality and the Afterlife of Cultural Heritage Objects

In recent years, ongoing debates about the restitution of cultural heritage objects that were stolen within various colonial contexts have gained momentum in tandem with a general awareness about the prevalence of various social injustices throughout society. While these discussions have primarily involved scholars, academics and museum professionals, artists, activists, and community members have also played an important role in reconfiguring the discourse around decoloniality, restitution, and reparations.

Mantokoski, Winter 2022. © Hans Pieski, 2022 / Studio Yukiko / HKW

Congress, 24 and 25 January 2025, HKW Berlin
 Goethe-Institut x HKW Berlin - Rising From The Ashes

Rising from the Ashes — A Convening on Rematriations, Reparations, and Restitutions is a project by the Goethe-Institut London, developed in cooperation with Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin.

It offers an opportunity to recognise the resilience of Indigenous communities that, throughout history, have faced attempts to distort narratives through various forms of epistemicide. In an effort to counter the ramifications of such attempts, the two-day congress at HKW fosters reflections and dialogues that consider the body and its creative manifestations as sites and vehicles of knowledge, and further aims to stimulate critical approaches to protect Indigenous sovereignty. The programme proposes a format that seeks to reunite the sensorial, the affective, the relational, and the discursive, while centring the act of rematriation as a methodology for reframing objecthood as subjecthood in regard to the restitution of cultural heritage. Rematriation, reparation, and restitution constitute the key notions that converge during the convening to address historical injustices.

Artistic Residencies

As part of the Lives of Objects programme, we have hosted two artistic residencies: Pamela Tulizo and Theo Eshetu.

A black woman in the water with floating bouys © Maji

Artistic Residency
 Pamela Tulizo

Pamela Tulizo (Goma, 1993) is a trained journalist and artistic photographer who runs the cultural project space Tulizo Elle Space for women and girls in Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. 
Still from video Atlas Fractured installed at documenta14 © Theo Eshetu

Artistic Residency
 Theo Eshetu

Theo Eshetu has worked in media art since 1982 exploring various formats from essay-films to large-scale video installations that explore how electronic media shape and inform global perceptions. 
Aztec-style logo for Virtual Gatherings in blue, yellow and green © Eno Inyangete

Events Series - Virtual series of talks
Lives of Objects: Virtual Gatherings

This new series of events, Lives of Objects: Virtual Gatherings, aims to form a platform for exchange and discussion about the decades-long and ongoing efforts for the recovery of looted cultural heritage and ancestral belongings to their countries and communities of origin. Curated by Sofia Lovegrove, these Virtual Gatherings seek to dissect the multiple meanings of restitution and stimulate active discussion amongst cultural workers, researchers, artists and a community of participants. Moderated by Sherry Davis, the gatherings will consider and interrogate the complex issues at the crux of restitution work, exploring a range of African and Diasporic initiatives and research that offer alternative and critical ways of thinking and doing such work. 
 
Final Reste Supreme Museum Performance © Alun Be

Research and artistic project
 Practicing Freedom

Practicing Freedom is a transcultural research and artistic project which aims to harness ongoing conversations and initiatives within the overriding concepts of decoloniality and restitution. Working with cultural practitioners, researchers, museum professionals, and existing collaborative initiatives and research programmes, we envision Practicing Freedom to consist of workshops, residencies, panel discussions, lectures, podcasts, artistic interventions, and a final exhibition and publication which will tie together the numerous threads of the project. We are currently thinking of Practicing Freedom as Phase 1 of the Lives of Objects greater project. 
An image of Gala and James with the logo Pieter Hugo and Eber Lee

Podcast
 Talking Culture #15: Lives of Objects: Gala Porras-Kim and James Webb

This is the first podcast episode of the Lives of Objects series, which is an extension of our Practicing Freedom project. We invited eminent artists Gala Porras-Kim and James Webb to discuss the ways in which we think about the lives of objects through an artistic lens, particularly those that carry historical, socio-political and spiritual importance. 

Related

TALKING CULTURE #9: CONTEXTS OF INJUSTICE - DISMANTLING COLONIAL LEGACIES FROM BERLIN TO LONDON

In this episode of the Talking Culture podcast, author and curator Dan Hicks, best known for his book The Brutish Museums (2020), takes stock of the debate around the enduring legacies of empire in our museums, universities and society at large. 
Zeitgeister Keyvisual Illustration: © El Boum

Zeitgeister - Postcolonialism

Learn more about critical discourse on a postcolonial world order, the effects of colonialism and how to overcome them in Zeitgeister, Goethe-Institut's global cultural magazine.
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