Eine Veranstaltung zum selektiven Rückbau des Humboldt-Forums Nach dem Bundestagsbeschluss zur Rekonstruktion der Schlossfassade von 2002 und dem 2008 vollendeten Abriss des Palasts der Republik wurde von kulturpolitischer Seite das Humboldt-Forum als rettende Idee zur Legitimation der Schlossrekonstruktion präsentiert. Neben Teilen der Zentral- und Landesbibliothek und den wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen der Humboldt-Universität soll das Humboldt-Forum vor allem die Sammlungen außereuropäischer Kunst und Kultur der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin beherbergen. Am 8. Juli wird eine Ausstellung im Alten Museum eröffnet, die Pläne zur inhaltlichen Gestaltung des Forums präsentiert. Alle bisherigen Verlautbarungen der Federführenden lassen erkennen, dass es bei dem Humboldt-Forum nicht um eine Reflexion der Gewalt geht, die im Zuge des Kolonialismus von Europa aus auf den Rest der Welt ausgeübt wurde. Vielmehr wird Andersheit ontologisiert, die zur Souveränitäts- und Kosmopolitismusdemonstration der Ausstellernation dient. Die Schlossfassade steht symbolisch für die verlorene und rückgewonnene Einheit Deutschlands, sowie für das „goldene Zeitalter“ des Preußentums, das nun zum nachteilungsgeschichtlichen Lückenfüller wird. Ausgerechnet in einem solchen Zusammenhang sollen nun „Kulturschätze“ aus aller Welt zur Demonstration von Weltoffenheit der selbsternannten „Kulturnation“ dienen. Eine derartige Rekontextualisierung an diesem symbolisch aufgeladenen Ort in direkter Nachbarschaft zur Museumsinsel mit ihren Sammlungen „klassischer Hochkulturen“ nennen wir eine Instrumentalisierung nichteuropäischer Künste und Kulturen. Eintritt frei! Samstag 11. Juli 2009, 20Uhr, Sophiensaele Berlin, Sophienstr. 18
Dokumentation der Veranstaltung als text (pdf)
Workshops Postkoloniale Displays, 14 - 16 Uhr Restitutionsfragen, 17 – 19 Uhr Alexandertechnik ist unter anderen: alexandertechnik@humboldtforum.info presse@humboldtforum.info
The Anti-Humboldt. An event about the selective deconstruction of the Humboldt-Forum. Organized by Alexandertechnik. Evening event, Saturday, july 11, Sophiensæle, Sophienstr. 18, 8 p.m. After the resolution of the Bundestag in 2002, and the completed demolition of the “Palace of the Republic”(a modern building of central importance for the GDR completed in 1976 containing the parliament, two large auditoriums, art galleries, a theatre, restaurants, and a bowling alley) in 2008, the new construction of the Berlin City Palace, including the Humboldt Forum planned inside it, is taking shape – until now largely unnoticed by the general public. The plan is to transfer objects of the so-called non-European art and culture back to the place where, from the 17th century on, they once formed the beginnings of the collection: in the curiosity cabinet of the Hohenzollern palace. These were formed to demonstrate imperial magnificence, power, and control of the world via microscopic reproduction, and led later to human zoos. The palace's baroque Schlüter Courtyard upgrade from the 18th century marks the era of Brandenburger-Prussian transatlantic slave trade. The last palace construction activities under Wilhelm II took place during the phase of coordinating, accelerating, and legitimating the Berlin Africa Conference, summoned under Bismarck, where the division of Africa between the European imperial powers was negotiated. The non-European and ethnological collections, then, will be (re)placed in a building that is congruent with the colonial and academically hegemonic collection history. Precisely in such a context, of all places, cultural treasures from around the world are to demonstrate cosmopolitanism. Non-European artefacts are made an instrument of national and European self-assurance under the cloak of the “cultural nation”. This term also stems from the spirit of the 19th century, when the so-called “land of poets and thinkers” hoped to “peacefully” colonise the world by exporting culture. Yet instead of reflecting on such a term, the “cultural nation” is today being conjured again. German cultural expertise is in demand abroad, and German institutions like the German United Museums are at the service of an anti-Israeli feudal state and tax haven (Dubai) while simultaneously claiming to be cosmopolitan at the price of abandoning democracy. At the same time, attempts are made to politically link up with a new European cosmopolitanism that as “Fortress Europe” is developing increasingly repressive migration policies against persons of non-European origin. The exhibits are presented in places in which their producers have no right of residence. This is accompanied by a migration policy that discriminates according to direct economic usefulness, while massively intervening in the personal rights of individuals with a precarious residence permit status, created by the racist, special legislation of the aliens law. In the museums in Dahlem, too, numerous objects exist that are known to have been violently appropriated or purchased from illegitimate traders. For example, close to half of the bronzes stolen by the British in Benin in 1897 came in possession of German museums and several private collections: 580 for Berlin. The demand to return these artefacts, raised by several descendents of inhabitants of the Kingdom of Benin, is ignored. The historicizing façade and the ties thus established with the 19th century obscure the breaks that the 20th century has left in the history of German supremacy. Which “productive” relations, and for whom, are to be conceivable here, when under the demonstration of cosmopolitanism (world art), under the emphasis on the (state) reformist aspects of Prussianism (Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, Wilhelm II), and under the declaration of democracy and humanism both political recognition and the historical dimension are eliminated?
Workshops about nationbranding (in English, 11 a.m.), postcolonial displays (2 p.m.) and questions about restitution (5 p.m.), taking place on Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Humboldt - Universität, Hausvoigteiplatz 5-7
|
|