Registration ends 07.4.2026 at 23:59 h

Whose story does an exhibition tell—and whose does it leave out? What happens when the objects on display carry the weight of colonial violence, wartime atrocity, or disputed ownership? And how do curators, architects, and educators transform these entangled histories into compelling and ethically sound exhibitions?
This seminar approaches exhibitions as sites of knowledge production, negotiation, and storytelling. Moving between theory and practice, we examine how institutions design, frame, and mediate histories marked by injustice, erasure, or contested memory. Two full-day on-site visits in Berlin form the backbone of the course: an exhibition on the Tirailleurs Sénégalais at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), and a multi-exhibition day at the Humboldt Forum—including Histories of Tanzania, the Benin Bronzes, Matter(s) of Perspective, and the permanent ethnological art collections. Together, these case studies span questions of colonial legacies, contested ownership, soldier memory, provenance, and postcolonial narration.

Students will develop a critical vocabulary for analyzing exhibitions—attending to object selection, labelling strategies, audience address, design, and institutional positioning—and will put this vocabulary to work through close observation, structured debate, and a short written assignment.

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