The Value of Objects: Identity, Language and Power

Objects are carriers of history, language and identity. Whether works of art or books, things are never neutral. They speak (or do not speak) about power relations, colonial history, migration and cultural belonging. Our research and practice should therefore focus on the question of how objects are presented in museums, public spaces or archives and whose perspectives remain visible or invisible in the process.

Art and culture are no exception when it comes to reinforcing colonial and nationalist values, perspectives and discourses. The rejection of multilingualism and the dominance of written knowledge play a central role in this: language is understood not only as a means of communication, but also as a political space in which memory, exclusion and resistance are negotiated. But how do invisible migration histories actually influence the symbols and construction of a national identity? How are the boundaries between us and them established, and how can we overcome this division with alternative narratives and other forms of knowledge?

Through artworks, literature, music and film, we will engage with the themes of stolen art, cultural heritage and activism in a polyphonic approach. Interdisciplinary, multilingual artistic positions are invited to understand artworks not as isolated objects, but as part of a social and historical context.

Collective exchange, tours and artistic research will enable us to question the value of the artwork within the institutional order, with the aim of promoting processes of recontextualisation, transformative art and cultural education.

The seminar is co-organised and led together with Mariama Nzinga Diallo.

 

Bibliography

Sela Adjei; LeGall, Yann (Eds.). Fifteen Colonial Thefts: A Guide to Looted African Heritage in Museums. Pluto Press, 2024

Natalie Bayer; Kazeem-Kamiński, Belinda; Sternfeld, Nora. Kuratieren als antirassistische Praxis. 2017

Elvira Espejo Ayka. Yanak Uywaña: die gegenseite Erziehung der Künste. 2023

Encarnación Gutiérrez Rodríguez; Steyerl, Hito. Spricht die Subalterne deutsch? Migration und postkoloniale Kritik. 2012

Kristin Hausler; Selter, Elke: Beyond Restitution: Exploring the Stories of Cultural Objects After Their Return. 2025

Dan Hicks. The Brutish Museums: The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution. Pluto Press, 2020

Lia Kastiyo-Spinósa; Diallo, Mariama Nzinga. "Visionen für ein Museum der Migration“ in migrazine Ausgabe 2024.

Lia Kastiyo-Spinósa; Zerú Araya, Helen; Kebede, Mihret. "Netsa Art Village Legacy: Inhabiting and Creating in Green Urban Spaces" in migrazine Ausgabe 2020/1.

Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński. Engaged Pedagogy Antidiskriminatorisches Lehren und Lernen bei bell hooks, 2016.

Carmen Mörsch; Sachs, Angeli; Sieber, Thomas. Contemporary Curating and Museum Education. 2017

Felwine Sarr; Savoy, Bénéditcte. Zurückgeben: Über die Restitution afrikanischer Kulturgüter. Matthes & Seitz Berlin, 2019.

Regular and active participation (80%), reading texts, collaborating on and presenting a collective project, and participating in the KKP forum.

MUSMIG

Das Kollektiv MUSMIG ist ein Versuch migrantischer Selbsthistorisierung und fordert ein Museum der Migration in Österreich. Seit 2019 arbeiten Historiker*innen, Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaftler*innen, Künstler*innen und Aktivist*innen in einem freien und wachsenden Kollektiv zusammen und organisieren Austausch und Dialog zu den Möglichkeiten und Konzepten eines Museums der Migration in Wien. 

MUSMIG wird vertreten durch: Ljubomir Bratić, Gabriela Urrutia Reyes, Elena Messner, Mehmet Emir, Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur, Mariama Nzinga Diallo, Lia Kastiyo-Spinósa, Anna Seidel, Savo Ristić, Yvonne Živković, Natalie Deewan, Magdalena Winkler, Katharina Kulesza, Hanna Salentinig, Joel Souza Cabrera, Goran Lazičić, unter anderen.