the President of The Prussian cultural heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, wants to remember in the future Humboldt Forum, a space of silence to the colonial injustice. “The visitors are to get in the house very much information about the time of the colonialism,” said Parzinger in Berlin. “But it would be important to create somewhere a place that also makes a thoughtful and personal thoughts and reflection.”
The Humboldt Forum in the reconstructed Berlin Palace from the end of 2019, mainly ethnological and Asian art show, often from the colonial time comes. A good impetus for the confrontation with this history, the work of art “Statue of Limitations”, with the Berlin-based artist Sunkoo Kang, an employee of the Chinese human rights activist Ai Weiwei, one of the art-on-architecture-competitions won is Parzinger, according to.
Black flag at half mast
“This bronze sculpture is a powerful Symbol to the memory of the colonialism. You will stimulate to Think about it,“ said the President. The design provides a black flag at half-mast, the lower half in the Central staircase of the cultural center. The upper half comes out at the Nachtigal place of the “African quarter” in Berlin’s Wedding district.
In the exhibitions, the topic will be explained on the basis of the objects. The Foundation of the controversial Benin bronzes, which come from a campaign the Brits want to show, in spite of their historical load. In a video installation about the African Museum experts, and the king of Benin to explain the story of the robbery and the importance of the objects.
The Prussians Foundation, with its top-class collections of non-European art of the main users of the Humboldt forum. In addition, the state of Berlin and the Humboldt-University of exhibit space. Parzinger does not expect, however, that the permanent exhibitions of the Foundation in the second and third floors are about to see the ceremonial opening by the end of 2019.
Start at the beginning of 2020
“We will launch according to the current state at the beginning of 2020,” he said. “But we are also involved in the special exhibition on the ground floor, which is to open in 2019. For us, it is important to be as early as possible, and also the visitors can expect to see.“
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Colonial heritage Parzinger calls for structural funds for African museums
to give The opening of the mammoth project is planned in several steps – on the one hand, in order to gain time, on the other hand, the visitors have time to Explore. The costs are estimated at nearly 600 million euros, and its Main funder is the Federal government. (dpa)
