Δ UNROLLED AND UNRAVELLED

New Views of the Indonesian Textiles Collection

The Weltkulturen Museum holds an extensive collection of Indonesian textiles that have not been displayed for a very long time. Previously kept rolled up in the stores for reasons of conservation, some of these textiles are now being made accessible to the public again. The exceptional textiles are not only testimonies to outstanding craftsmanship, but also vehicles for coded messages. Much like barcodes, those messages also need to be deciphered.

The exhibition in the Weltkulturen Labor aims to test out different ways of reading the textiles. Rather than presenting finished results, UNROLLED AND UNRAVELLED offers insights into research ongoing in the museum, and raises new questions. What are the structures or grammar woven into the fabrics? Can the textiles be translated into other art forms? What knowledge was communicated through these fabrics? Are there continuities or analogies with local, national and global phenomena? And what meanings do the textiles generate?

UNROLLED  AND UNRAVELLED marks the beginning of a long-term process of thinking about the textiles in the Weltkulturen Museum, which will culminate in 2016 with a large supraregional exhibition.

In parallel with the exhibition, the outcomes of the research can also be accessed by the public at www.weltkulturen-openlab.com.

Curator: Vanessa von Gliszczynski, Research Curator, Southeast Asia.

Curator’s guided tours on Saturday, 26th April, Tuesday, 6th May, Saturday 24th May and Tuesday, 27th May at 3pm.

Weltkulturen Labor, Schaumainkai 37
Tuesdays–Sundays, 11am – 6pm, Wednesdays 11am – 8pm

Exhibition dates: 16th April to 1st June 2014
Admission: €3 / reduced €1.50

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Δ FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(or the stories you wouldn’t tell a stranger)

16th January 2014 until 4th January 2015

An exhibition on the relationship between anthropology, colonialim and trade.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE is an account of certain disturbing ways of visualising human beings in the name of science; of the transformation of the human body into that of an object; of the fascination with the Other; of the passion for collecting; of the mission to preserve remote cultures for all eternity; of the need to find systems for that task. And it’s an account of the role that is ultimately always played by money and trade.

With more than 1,000 historic artefacts and photographs from Angola, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Melanesia, Mexico, Micronesia, Mozambique, Namibia, New Britain, New Guinea, New Ireland, Nigeria, Russia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tierra del Fuego, Togo, Uganda, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Combined with artistic research produced in the Weltkulturen Labor during 2013 by Peggy Buth (DE), Minerva Cuevas (MX), Luke Willis Thompson(NZ) and David Weber-Krebs (BE), as well as new texts by writers in residence Gabriel Gbadamosi (GB), David Lau (US), and Tom McCarthy (GB). Additional artworks by Marie Angeletti (FR), Lothar Baumgarten (DE), Benedikte Bjerre (DK), Rut Blees Luxemburg (DE), Clegg & Guttmann (US), Rotimi Fani-Kayode (NG), Armin Linke (IT), Otobong Nkanga (NG), Pushpamala N (IN) and Olivier Richon (CH).

The accompanying catalogue is published in German and English by diaphanes Verlag and includes contributions from Bruce J. Altshuler (US), Kokou Azamede (TG), Patricia Falguières (FR), Michael Fehr (DE), Ros Gray (GB), Charlotte Klonk (DE), Karl-Heinz Kohl (DE), Pramod Kumar KG (IN), Renée Mussai (GB), Michael Oppitz (DE), Peter Osborne (GB), Ciraj Rassool (ZA), Markus Schindlbeck (DE) and many others.

Curated by Dr. Clémentine Deliss and Dr. Yvette Mutumba.

schließen