"The first thing I think about are the many robbed treasures which are stored in it, so to speak. In the end, they serve to make, in particular, the white public appropriate these treasures in the sense that they naturally assume, again and again and again, that they belong here, that they belong to them, in their museums."
- Lucia Muriel
"The first thing I think about are the many robbed treasures which are stored in it, so to speak. In the end, they serve to make, in particular, the white public appropriate these treasures in the sense that they naturally assume, again and again and again, that they belong here, that they belong to them, in their museums."
- Lucia Muriel
The Humboldt Forum is a project of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), with the self-proclaimed aim to create an international center for the conjunction of art, culture, science and education in Berlin. With the execution of the project, the foundation especially emphasizes that the Humboldt Forum is about cultural dialogue and a variety of perspectives on historical and contemporary topics. he integration of museums, libraries and universities supposedly ensures this.
The Humboldt Forum is a project of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), with the self-proclaimed aim to create an international center for the conjunction of art, culture, science and education in Berlin. With the execution of the project, the foundation especially emphasizes that the Humboldt Forum is about cultural dialogue and a variety of perspectives on historical and contemporary topics. he integration of museums, libraries and universities supposedly ensures this.
Ironically, the project aspires to depict developments on an economic and ecological level in world society against the backdrop of a globalized world and to serve as a place for an “[…]equal cohabitation of cultures and nations[…]”.
This is problematic on several levels:
Instead of being concerned with the origin of the aforementioned objects by conducting provenance research and pointing out the colonial context which made it possible for the objects to be in Germany in the first place, money is instead invested in projects such as the restoration of the façade of the Berliner Schloss (which serves as the location for the exhibition).
With reference to the collection, there is another level on which the aim of a cultural dialogue is missed: exclusively non-European art objects will be exhibited in the name of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, without involving the perspectives of those people from whose societies the objects were forcefully taken.
When these art objects and cultures are depicted and evaluated from a white, European view, this perspective and depiction is referred to as Eurocentrism, and is connected with a racialized science, many of these objects were used for research during the colonial era in order to prove the alleged inferiority of non-European societies.
"Concerning the Humboldt Forum, I just find it remarkable how much money is put into that project, hundreds of millions. All to put art on a pedestal, most of which was stolen from former colonies."
- Abdel Amine Mohammed
"Concerning the Humboldt Forum, I just find it remarkable how much money is put into that project, hundreds of millions. All to put art on a pedestal, most of which was stolen from former colonies."
- Abdel Amine Mohammed
For further information and detailed explanations of the criticism concerning the Humboldt Forum, please see the following pages:
Für weiterführende Informationen und ausführlichere Erläuterungen zur Kritik am Humboldtforum siehe folgende Seiten:
- AfricAvenir’s project: Decolonial Objections Against the Humboldt-Forum
> in depth elaboration on the problematic nature of the Humboldt Forum concerning Eurocentrism, colonialism, Orientalism and looted art
> Suggestions for discussion events with a critical view on the Humboldt Forum
> decolonial actions and initiatives with regard to the Humboldt Forum - No-Humboldt 21 and the partners involved in the alliance ISD (Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland), glokal e.V., BER Berliner Entwicklungspolitischer Ratschlag e.V., AfricAvenir International, Afrotak TV cyberNomads, Berlin Postkolonial, Artefakte//anti-humboldt
> collection of different media with explanations of the problematic nature of the Humboldt Forum, as well as actions and initiatives in favor of a moratorium on the project
> further links of initiatives with a critical stance towards the Humboldt Forum - Traveling exhibition of the projectsArtefakte//anti-humboldt (Brigitta Kuster, Regina Sarreiter, Dierk Schmidt) and AFROTAK TV cyberNomads (Michael Küppers-Adebisi) in cooperation with Andreas Siekmann and Ute Klissenbauer
> Material: artistic miniature works, video material, flyer, poster–> developed within the context of the campaign No Humboldt 21!
For further information, please visit the webpages of the alliance partners participating in the campaign of No-Humboldt 21:
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"For me Humboldt Forum means plunder, theft and that means that all these objects, all these cultural goods which are in this museum were just brought here to Germany in a crooked manner and that means they are simply spoils, in my opinion. That’s to put it a bit more radically, but they are spoils to me and they don’t belong in this museum, they belong in the countries they come from."
- Israel Kaunatjike
"For me Humboldt Forum means plunder, theft and that means that all these objects, all these cultural goods which are in this museum were just brought here to Germany in a crooked manner and that means they are simply spoils, in my opinion. That’s to put it a bit more radically, but they are spoils to me and they don’t belong in this museum, they belong in the countries they come from."
