Valentin Sohn
Information
Impressum
2024
The series Collecting? takes a close look at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium, and its colonial heritage.
The Museum has a collection of 120,000 ethnographic artefacts from Central Africa, which were mostly taken under brutal colonial rule - parts of it are on public display at the museum, located in the outskirts of Brussels.
Which interests guide the museum‘s collection today, and how does it deal with its very own colonial history?
Collections - Collecting and Being Collected?
However, the idea that white Europeans in Brussels could encapsulate an entire African subcontinent—its millions of diverse people, tribes, nations, cultures, flora, and fauna—within the confines of a single museum is nothing but absurd. It simply reflects, rooted deeply in colonial history, Europe‘s perceived superiority over Africa.
Today, a visit to the Royal Museum for Central Africa might leave one imagining Central Africaas aland populated exclusively by semi-naked people, living in mud huts, playing peculiar instruments, and wearing colourful clothing. Among them roam “exotic” animals, while sparkling minerals and crystals gleam nearby. It should come to no surprise, that presenting millions of people through a couple of objects, ripped out of their initial cultural context, leads to a misleading representation of said people.
But no matter how many modern artworks are placed in between all the objects obtained under brutal authority - the museum is far away from being as un-colonial as it is looking to present itself. It’s very foundations and its core concept follow a colonial tradition of Othering.
The Collection emphasizes the differences between here and there, us and them. Instead of informing about cultures and traditions, it seeks to entertain the visitor with stolen objects presented as intriguing curiosities.