Unfortunately, RM* found news about this exhibition only now. It raises the important question: ‘When is a work of art colonial?’
It is the subject of the special exhibition Colonialism in Objects, which takes a critical look at the past of the Museum Fünf Kontinente.
On display are unique historical artefacts that came to Munich in the colonial era, many of which are now rated as masterpieces. In addition to key works that feature in the post-colonial debate, such as the ship’s beak from the Bele Bele community in Duala (Cameroon) and the Benin bronzes from Nigeria, the exhibition shows art and cultural artefacts from Tanzania, Namibia, India and Pakistan, China, New Guinea, the Philippines and Samoa.
The Süddeutsche Zeiting has an interesting interview [ in German ] with prince Alexandre Kum’a Ndumbe III from Cameroon. He graduated from high school in Germany, and found out much later that a work of art belonging to his family was in this museum in Munich.
He wants to get it back and wonders: How honest are Europeans?
Colonialism in Objects documents how these objects were looted, bought, exchanged or accepted as gifts by Europeans in colonized territories.
What it reveals in the process is the violence, racism and attempt to stamp out the cultures of the colonized peoples that went hand in hand with colonial appropriation.
