Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro
photos: Emma Haugh; courtesy of District Berlin; Nathalie Mba Bikoro
supported by Kutlurarbeits Finanz Amt & District Berlin
solo exhibition in the framework of Undisciplinary Learning project at District
2016
supported by Kutlurarbeits Finanz Amt & District Berlin
solo exhibition in the framework of Undisciplinary Learning project at District
2016
TRÜMMERBERG KILIMANJARO
Artistic Reconsiderations on Decolonizing Archives in Tempelhof-Schöneberg
A project by Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro in collaboration with Anaïs Héraud
Squat Monument is an artistic investigation into Germany’s memory culture and positions towards coloniality[sh3] . Squatting monuments suggests the activation of archives through alternative perspectives & untold narratives; when archives perform and spaces are occupied through reconsidered poetic gestures.
The exhibition Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro departs from the rubble mound of Marienhöhe in Berlin’s Tempelhof district. According to newspaper article from Tempelhof-Schöneberg archives, the « Africa scenes » of the nazi movie Carl Peters (H.Selpin 1942) had been partly shot on today’s Trümmerberg Marienhöhe, together with a painted décor of a Kilimanjaro as its background. Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro insists on re-creating a socio-political foretelling of events of fictional and factual histories in particular allowing visibility of the voices of African women in anti-colonial resistance movements notably organised between Berlin, Namibia and Cameroon between 1885-1945. The artists dematerialise archives to constitute a decolonial narrative through performative propositions re-enforcing poetry as an activist format to transform the identity and recognition of German's colonial history in past & its impact on contemporary urban movements. The artists denounce and transform urban spaces to trigger a process of decolonial memory as a way to build an alternative monument, where the community is a key function of cultural production & knowledge.
Artistic Reconsiderations on Decolonizing Archives in Tempelhof-Schöneberg
A project by Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro in collaboration with Anaïs Héraud
Squat Monument is an artistic investigation into Germany’s memory culture and positions towards coloniality[sh3] . Squatting monuments suggests the activation of archives through alternative perspectives & untold narratives; when archives perform and spaces are occupied through reconsidered poetic gestures.
The exhibition Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro departs from the rubble mound of Marienhöhe in Berlin’s Tempelhof district. According to newspaper article from Tempelhof-Schöneberg archives, the « Africa scenes » of the nazi movie Carl Peters (H.Selpin 1942) had been partly shot on today’s Trümmerberg Marienhöhe, together with a painted décor of a Kilimanjaro as its background. Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro insists on re-creating a socio-political foretelling of events of fictional and factual histories in particular allowing visibility of the voices of African women in anti-colonial resistance movements notably organised between Berlin, Namibia and Cameroon between 1885-1945. The artists dematerialise archives to constitute a decolonial narrative through performative propositions re-enforcing poetry as an activist format to transform the identity and recognition of German's colonial history in past & its impact on contemporary urban movements. The artists denounce and transform urban spaces to trigger a process of decolonial memory as a way to build an alternative monument, where the community is a key function of cultural production & knowledge.
Escaping anthropologies of invisibility & insisting on the deconstruction of dominant western war narratives, the Trümmerberg once a mound of collected debris from forgotten histories & experiences of diaspora cultures therefore are made visible through an archaeology of re-enactment in archives & mixed installations that constitutes the Monument for those lost voices and urban spaces of today's Berlin. In dematerialising the archives and enforcing poetry to disintegrate the post-colonial myth, the artists retell the story for an alternative monument in which the community is key to cultural production and decolonial memory, triggering a transformation in the identity of German's position on colonial history & its impact on contemporary urban movements.
Squat Monument is an artistic investigation into Germany’s memory culture and positions towards coloniality[sh1] . Squatting monuments suggests the activation of archives through alternative perspectives and untold narratives outside dominant forms of knowledge: when archives perform and spaces are occupied through reconsidered poetic gestures.
The exhibition Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro by Squat Monument departs from the rubble mound of Marienhöhe in Berlin’s Tempelhof district.
According to newspaper article from Tempelhof-Schöneberg archives, the « Africa scenes » of the Nazi movie Carl Peters (Herbert Selpin 1942) had been partly shot on today’s Trümmerberg Marienhöhe, together with a painted décor of a Kilimanjaro as its background. With selected archive sources from Museen Tempelhof_Schöneberg Archiv, Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro insists on re-creating a socio-political foretelling of events of fictional and factual histories in particular allowing visibility of the voices of African women anti-colonial resistance movements notably organised between Berlin, Namibia and Cameroon between 1885-1945. The artists dematerialise anthropological records and archives to constitute a decolonial narrative and memory through performative propositions re-enforcing poetry as an activist format. The artists denounce and transform urban spaces to trigger a process of decolonial archives and memory as a way to build an alternative monument, in which the community is a key function of cultural production and knowledge.
In dematerialising anthropological records[1] and enforcing poetry to make contest the post-colonial myth[2], the artists lay particular focus on the voices of African women in anti-colonial resistance movements organized between Berlin, Namibia and Cameroon from 1885 to 1945. By establishing an alternative monument in which the community is key to cultural production and decolonial memory, Squat Monument triggers transformation in the identity of German's colonial history and in its impact on contemporary urban movements.
Le Parachutage[3] and My Name Is landing on the grounds of Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro return the testimonies of women and men, collected as part of the German colonial projects in war, cinema, sciences and art, from forgotten archives into the present. Portraits of Namibian women leaders in the Human Rights and anti-colonial resistance movements are were released into the skies whilst the hanging parachutes bring testimonies from Namibia and names & locations where Black resistance movements were organized in Berlin.
In We Built The Kilimanjaro, women of Berlin testify their presence at the Siegessäule to demount the monument and its imperial claims of the past and the present. In the film Carl Peters the Siegessäule is used as key visual narrative to affirm Germany’s colonial Empire after the 1885 Berlin-Kongo Conference. The women disturb and re-tell the history with their own narratives & personal impressions of the monument.
The two-channel video installation is accompanied by archive material and research fragments from the investigation and through performative interventions of Squat Monument in the Schöneberg-Tempelhof neighborhood.
[1] Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro is based on research in and integrates a selection of materials from the following archives: Lautarchiv der Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Archiv Museen Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Ethnologisches Museum in den Museen Dahlem, UFA Film Archiv, Bundesfilmarchiv, and Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Namibia Resource Centre – Southern Africa Library.
[2] Notably pointing out Franz Fanon’s „Black Skin White Mask“ and his positions towards Cognitive Dissonance (the underdeveloped discourses of Europe's cultural memory and positions towards its history). He suggests that the post-colonial does not exists, it is a term that is suggested as a position that should forfit towards emancipatory movement but is not necessarily practiced. He notes that our societies continue to practice a colonial system. Post-colonial was a term firstly used in 1890’s after the significant loss of German colonial settlements in Africa, to encourage a new wave of re-colonial settlements and anthropological projects to enforce ideas of the Empire. We therefore understand the post-colonial as a myth, an ideal image or fictionalised position, and ask how these terms can be re-considered to trigger new forms of historical narratives and practices through artistic direction.
[3]Le Parachutage is a political fictional novel by Burkina Faso human rights activist & journalist Norbert Nzongo which describes the consequences of historical erasure as well as the insurgency against oppression. The story deals with revelations on the function of power.
Squat Monument is an artistic investigation into Germany’s memory culture and positions towards coloniality[sh1] . Squatting monuments suggests the activation of archives through alternative perspectives and untold narratives outside dominant forms of knowledge: when archives perform and spaces are occupied through reconsidered poetic gestures.
The exhibition Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro by Squat Monument departs from the rubble mound of Marienhöhe in Berlin’s Tempelhof district.
According to newspaper article from Tempelhof-Schöneberg archives, the « Africa scenes » of the Nazi movie Carl Peters (Herbert Selpin 1942) had been partly shot on today’s Trümmerberg Marienhöhe, together with a painted décor of a Kilimanjaro as its background. With selected archive sources from Museen Tempelhof_Schöneberg Archiv, Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro insists on re-creating a socio-political foretelling of events of fictional and factual histories in particular allowing visibility of the voices of African women anti-colonial resistance movements notably organised between Berlin, Namibia and Cameroon between 1885-1945. The artists dematerialise anthropological records and archives to constitute a decolonial narrative and memory through performative propositions re-enforcing poetry as an activist format. The artists denounce and transform urban spaces to trigger a process of decolonial archives and memory as a way to build an alternative monument, in which the community is a key function of cultural production and knowledge.
In dematerialising anthropological records[1] and enforcing poetry to make contest the post-colonial myth[2], the artists lay particular focus on the voices of African women in anti-colonial resistance movements organized between Berlin, Namibia and Cameroon from 1885 to 1945. By establishing an alternative monument in which the community is key to cultural production and decolonial memory, Squat Monument triggers transformation in the identity of German's colonial history and in its impact on contemporary urban movements.
Le Parachutage[3] and My Name Is landing on the grounds of Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro return the testimonies of women and men, collected as part of the German colonial projects in war, cinema, sciences and art, from forgotten archives into the present. Portraits of Namibian women leaders in the Human Rights and anti-colonial resistance movements are were released into the skies whilst the hanging parachutes bring testimonies from Namibia and names & locations where Black resistance movements were organized in Berlin.
In We Built The Kilimanjaro, women of Berlin testify their presence at the Siegessäule to demount the monument and its imperial claims of the past and the present. In the film Carl Peters the Siegessäule is used as key visual narrative to affirm Germany’s colonial Empire after the 1885 Berlin-Kongo Conference. The women disturb and re-tell the history with their own narratives & personal impressions of the monument.
The two-channel video installation is accompanied by archive material and research fragments from the investigation and through performative interventions of Squat Monument in the Schöneberg-Tempelhof neighborhood.
[1] Trümmerberg Kilimanjaro is based on research in and integrates a selection of materials from the following archives: Lautarchiv der Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Archiv Museen Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Ethnologisches Museum in den Museen Dahlem, UFA Film Archiv, Bundesfilmarchiv, and Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Namibia Resource Centre – Southern Africa Library.
[2] Notably pointing out Franz Fanon’s „Black Skin White Mask“ and his positions towards Cognitive Dissonance (the underdeveloped discourses of Europe's cultural memory and positions towards its history). He suggests that the post-colonial does not exists, it is a term that is suggested as a position that should forfit towards emancipatory movement but is not necessarily practiced. He notes that our societies continue to practice a colonial system. Post-colonial was a term firstly used in 1890’s after the significant loss of German colonial settlements in Africa, to encourage a new wave of re-colonial settlements and anthropological projects to enforce ideas of the Empire. We therefore understand the post-colonial as a myth, an ideal image or fictionalised position, and ask how these terms can be re-considered to trigger new forms of historical narratives and practices through artistic direction.
[3]Le Parachutage is a political fictional novel by Burkina Faso human rights activist & journalist Norbert Nzongo which describes the consequences of historical erasure as well as the insurgency against oppression. The story deals with revelations on the function of power.