„The Blind Spot: Bremen, Colonialism and Art“ 5 August 2017

PRESS RELEASE Bremen, August 2017

„The blind Spot: Bremen, Colonialism and Art“ 5 August 2017 - 19 November 2017 For the first time a German art museum is examining its history in regard to colonial traces, trade relations, patronage and collection. From 5 August to 19 November 2017 the exhibition “The blind Spot: Bremen, Colonialism and Art” presents the results of a research project funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

Left: Paula Modersohn- Becker, Stillleben mit Äpfeln und Bananen , 1905, tempera on canvas, Kunsthalle Bremen | Right: Unknown artist, Yoruba, Nigeria, Queen Victoria , around 1900, Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg

In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Hanseatic city of Bremen was a flourishing centre of rapidly growing international trade, profiting from colonial expansion and overseas migration. These global relations also left their traces in the Kunstverein in Bremen which was founded in 1823. To this day, these traces have remained hidden. A research project and exhibition funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation addresses these issues for the first time. It examines the history of the Kunstverein in Bremen within the context of the trade and global connections of the Hanseatic city. It further investigates the colonial implications of works by, amongst others, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Emil Nolde and Fritz Behn. The exhibition uncovers the colonial blind spots in the history and collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen and particularly sheds light on the representation and treatment of the “Other” in early modern art. These European perspectives are set in dialogue with works by modern and contemporary artists from the African and Asian continent. In addition, the installation “Cui Bono” by british-guyanese artist Hew Locke will be displayed in the Upper Gallery of the Bremen Town Hall during the exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen.

Cooperation: The exhibition was developed in close cooperation with Afrika Netzwerk Bremen. Besides, exclusively for this occasion People of Colour are methodically educated to present the contents of the exhibition.

Exhibited artists: With works by Fritz Behn, Paul Gauguin, Georg Kolbe, August Macke, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein and Amrita Sher-Gil as well as the Japanese wood-artist Okumura Masanobu, Suzuki Harunobu, Katsukawa Shunsh ō, Kitagawa Utamaro, Hosoda Eishi, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige and Kawanabe Ky ōsai, as well as unknown artists from territories of the current Angola, DR Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Catalog: Catalog of the exhibition in German and English: Der blinde Fleck. Bremen und die Kunst in der Kolonialzeit/ The Blind Spot. Bremen, Colonialism and Art, 192 pages, ca. 100 images, texts by Julia Binter, Anna Brus, Anna Greve and Yvette Mutumba and interviews with Hew Locke, Vivan Sundaram and Ngozi Schommers, Reimer Verlag, Euro 19,90.

Introduction of the Fellowships and of the Fellow Julia Binter: Julia Binter (*1984) studied cultural and social anthropology as well as theatrical science, film science and media science in Vienna und Paris und obtains a doctorate in world trade, cultural exchange and imperial

Der Kunstverein in Bremen Am Wall 207 | 28195 Bremen | Germany

contact with Western Africa, in cooperation with the National Maritime Museum, London, at the University of Oxford. From 2010 to 2013 Binter worked as curator's broad assistant at the world museum of Vienna. Since 2009 she teaches at the University of Vienna. In her scientific research she tackled the medial discourses of globalization and migration, trade and colonial history as well as culture of remembrance and postcolonial theory. The „Fellowship Internationales Museum der Kulturstiftung des Bundes” makes the 18-month research project “The blind spot: World trade, patronage and collection history in the colonial era by the example of the Kunsthalle Bremen“ and the exhibition possible.

Event highlights: 5 August, 15h: Vis-à-vis artist talk with Hew Locke , Prof. Dr. Christoph Grunenberg and Julia Binter (in English) 8 August, 18h: "Fernando Bryce" and "The blind spot": Guided tour with the curators , Dr. Anne Buschhoff and Julia Binter 2 September, 15h: Vis-à-vis artist talk with Ngozi Schommers and Julia Binter 3/24 September, 15h: Guided tour with the curator Julia Binter in cooperation with the Afrika-Netzwerk Bremen e.V. 14 September, 19h: Reading: Afrikanissimo! 16 September, 9:30h: Symposium : Colonialism in museum, conflicts, and potentials, public 24 October, 19h: Panel discussion with the Afrika-Netzwerk Bremen e.V.: Borders in the head. 7 November, 19h: Panel discussion : Bremen and its colonial heritage

Funded in the program Fellowship Internationales Museum of

Cooperation partner: Media partner:

Der Kunstverein in Bremen Am Wall 207 | 28195 Bremen | Germany