Untangling postcolonial legacy in museum context
eSeL Foto: Public Program "Das Museum entkolonialisieren" (Belvedere21, 28.1.2023)
Decolonizing the Museum
Public Program 2023 – Belvedere 21
Curators: Christiane Erharter and Claudia Slanar
‘The Letter’ (2019) and ‘Fleshbacks’ (2021) film screening and the following artist talk with Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński opened the discussion on decolonizing museums within the Belvedere 21 Public Program last week. For the artist, 'decolonization' means ‘destruction’ in the first place. However, the term is often used as a substitute for 'change'. The notion of ‘decolonization’ was challenged by the artist George Nuku as well. He believes there is no such thing as decolonization, and that if there were, it would be a "mystical input to colonization."
eSeL Foto: Public Program "Das Museum entkolonialisieren" (Belvedere21, 28.1.2023)
Regardless of how we feel about it, it is worth considering what the use of 'decolonization' in a museum context could mean. The REPATRIATES - Artistic Research in Museums and Communities in the process of Repatriation from Europe with the focus on repatriation from Austria to Mexico; United Kingdom to Australia; France to Benin and Nigeria; and Germany to Namibia - and Prof. Dr. Bénédicte Savoy shared their experiences and practices on it. Museum decolonization is more or less a catch-all term to refer to restitution and repatriation, re-contextualization of exhibitions and object narratives, and support for research.
The importance of working on the basis of ‘museum - communities’ instead of ‘museum - museum’ was clearly voiced. Communities as agents of change should be actively involved in the dialogue. Artists, on the other hand, bring complexity and nuances to the field. Academic researchers would complete the team. Multidisciplinary work on a mutual understanding and support basis…sounds like a good beginning…
Text: Jameli “Tanuki”
Photos: eSeL
