Like all institutions, museums are embedded within society’s unequal power relations. On the one hand, many museums are hierarchical places where marginalized perspectives are underrepresented or excluded. On the other, there is a highly topical debate going on about how museums can be more socially relevant, build networks with civil society initiatives, and focus on their critical positions.
This panel discussion will examine this tension. The starting point will be the exhibition “Three Doors – Forensic Architecture / Forensis, Initiative 19. Februar Hanau, Initiative in Gedenken an Oury Jalloh” (Three Doors – Forensic Architecture / Forensis, Initiative 19 February Hanau, Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh; 2022), which was jointly developed and has already been shown in Frankfurt, Berlin, and Hanau. By looking at the racist attack oo February 19, 2020, in Hanau and lat the case of Oury Jalloh, who burned to death in Dessau police custody on January 7, 2005, the exhibition highlights racist violence and structures in Germany, exposes state failures, and calls for consequences. The exhibition focuses on the experiences of and the struggles for clarification faced by relatives, survivors, and supporters. Nine people were killed in the attack in Hanau: Gökhan Gültekin, Sedat Gürbüz, Said Nesar Hashemi, Mercedes Kierpacz, Hamza Kurtović, Vili-Viorel Păun, Fatih Saraçoğlu, Ferhat Unvar, and Kaloyan Velkov. Oury Jalloh, on the other hand, burned to death in a police cell, bound hand and foot. While police and authorities cling to the narrative of Oury Jalloh's self-immolation, independent, privately commissioned fire experts refute this version and assert that the fire was caused by someone else.
The participants in the discussion have profound knowledge and many years of experience in antiracist engagement and/or museum work. Some have lost family members to racist violence. Together we will discuss questions like the the following:
What can activist exhibitions achieve? Can museums exhibit a critique of state structures and the political demands of marginalized people without appropriating them? What are the challenges posed by collaborations between museums and (antiracist) activists? Are there any differences between activist and museum memory, archives, and exhibition practices?
The panel discussion will take place at the FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, a museum that focuses on social movements and memory work in the diverse city of Berlin. We look forward to discussing this with you!
Notes:
Aktueller Stand im Untersuchungsausschuss Hanau
Aktueller Stand im Fall Oury Jalloh/Europäischer Gerichtshof
The Activist Exhibition: Museen zwischen Widerstand und Vereinnahmung (Museums Between Resistance and Appropriation)
A panel discussion with Newroz Duman (Initiative 19 February Hanau), Mouctar Bah (Initiative in Memory of Oury Jalloh), Natalie Bayer (Director FHXB Museum), and Tahir Della (ISD), moderated by Pegah Byroum-Wand (Museums and Society – Mapping the Social), April 19, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum, Berlin