Alumni Project | DISRUPTING & REORIENTING RESTITUTION
Team
Heba abd el Gawad, Helen Arfvidsson, Imogen Coulson, Ssebuyungo Chris, Stephanie Endter, Eno Inyangete, Samba Yonga, Sofia Lovegrove
Objective and description
“Disrupting Restitution” was born out of a team project that started during The MuseumsLab 2022 edition. We came together due to our shared interest in and frustration with current debates and approaches to restitution. As a diverse group of African and European specialists and practitioners from various backgrounds (museum education, exhibitions, provenance research, policy, heritage management, etc.) we identified and discussed some of the main challenges that face those working on this contentious and complex topic. The final product was a presentation at the end of TheMuseumsLab2022 programme in South Africa in which we summarised our findings. We identified four main challenges - fragmentation, absences, voices and community partners, and engaging publics - and concluded that there is an urgent need to disrupt the current frameworks in which restitution is discussed and tackled. Additionally, we started thinking of possible (short and long term) avenues for further addressing these issues. Namely, a digital open access platform (padlet) for sharing information and resources, as well as the organisation of online events, the creation of an ethical tool kit, amongst other projects and activities.
We wish to open up our discussions to a wider audience including not only those who are actively involved in restitution, but also those who are curious to learn more. We aim to create spaces where people can convene to exchange knowledge, ideas, tools and approaches. Therefore, we propose a two-part project of open access digital engagement activities, focusing specifically on the African continent. This will foster a more representative and inclusive exchange and dissemination of the current discussions on restitution, their challenges and opportunities.
Implementation
Between September and October 2023 we realized our first project “On Forbidden Knowledge” aiming to uncover hidden narratives by exploring forms of Indigenous knowledge and practices that were forbidden under colonial rule.
The project consisted of a virtual artist residency and three online conversations. Following a call for artists, we selected Mihayo Kallaye, a multimedia installation artist from Tanzania. Mihayo listened and engaged in two conversations with scholars and Indigenous experts that centered around historic objects from three African countries that are currently held in European museums while working on an artistic response that he presented in an artist talk.
We wrote an article wherein we reflect on this project, which can be read in full on our Website.
This project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through the Goethe-Institut.
