Intervention in M21, Humboldt Forum.

Eine Kooperation zwischen den Staatlichen Museen und der Universität der Künste/Kunst im Kontext (Berlin)

Abstract

The extensive archaeological collections from South America now housed in the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin were acquired primarily in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The idea was to create an archive of humanity in Berlin.Today it comprises more than 500,000 objects from all over the world. In a conventional, object-based exhibition, it is not possible to do justice to the different facets of collecting in pre-Columbian South America. Public Art wants to “think the world politically […]” (Chantal Mouffe 2014) and is understood as part of a process of negotiation between the public and involved actors. So, voices from different actors have been incorporated in the art work: Scholars, members of South American communities in Berlin, artists, and speakers at the symposia organized by the students. Under the direction of Kristina Leko, students from the University of the Arts/Art in Context developed a total of five artworks that were brought together in a video for presentation at the Humboldt Forum, which is shown in Module 21 “Along the Humboldt current”.

[Public Art, Humboldt Forum, Kristina Leko, 19th Century Collection Policy, Cooperation Uni-
versität der Künste/Staatliche Museen zu Berlin]