Opening Tue, 05.02.2019 6:30pm
Exhibition duration Wed, 06.02 - Fri, 22.02.2019
In Old Moshi the head of Chief Meli is missing. A strong figure of resistance, he fought bravely against the German colonialists and was hanged in 1900. His head is said to have been shipped to Germany, where thousands of human skulls are still stored in museum depots. The grandson of Chief Meli has been searching for the head for more than 50 years, until now without success.
Yet traces of Chief Meli can be found in songs, stories and archives. This has formed the basis for a Tanzanian-German collaboration where an animated video sculpture and re-examined historical photographs portray the life story of Meli – and his legacy today.
Mangi Meli Remains premiered in Berlin, November 2018 and will display in Dar es Salaam before concluding in Old Moshi, March 2019 where it will remain as a place of remembrance and a placeholder for Chief Meli’s missing head.
A Flinn Works (DE) production with Mr. Isaria Meli (TZ), Old Moshi Cultural Tourism (TZ), BSS Projects (TZ/UK), ArtEver (TZ) in cooperation with Ethnologisches Museum Berlin and Tieranatomisches Theater at Humboldt University Berlin. Supported by Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, Goethe Institute Tanzania and Between Bridges.
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