Change of View –
Tracing Racism

Intervention tour
From April 30th 2022

The intervention tour takes a look at the permanent exhibitions of the Historical Museum Frankfurt from a perspective that is critical of racism.
The participating co-curators are artists and activists who comment on, change and supplement selected objects and their stories with their exhibition contributions. The intervention tour sets accents and breaks with dominant patterns of thought, speech and vision.
Within the project, the focus is on questions such as: Whose stories are told in the museum? Which perspectives are marginalized? How do historical images reproduce racism and who reads these images and in what way? Where do the objects come from or how did they get here?

About the project

The art intervention tour ‘Change of View – Tracing Racism’ focuses on German colonial history and its continuing effects to this day. Traces from the 16th to the early 20th centuries can also be found in Frankfurt. Imperial and colonial concepts still have an impact today in the shapes of racism and structural exclusion. These tracks can also be found in the exhibitions and collections of the Historical Museum - sometimes it is more obvious, sometimes less so: This can be seen clearly in the shape of racist depictions and texts on exhibition objects. Or there are gaps because people and their narratives have been consistently left out. With 18 art interventions, the participatory project adds critical reflections and new perspectives to the exhibits.

Artists and activists of Color comment on, change and complete selected objects and their stories with their contributions to the exhibition. They present their critical view of the histories preserved in the museum using artistic means. The tour is predominantly articulated from the perspective of non-white and intersectional positions. In their role as co-curators, they offer insight into experiences of racism and stereotyping descriptions. Strategies of self-empowerment and resistance are employed, in addition to uncovering racisms. This means the interventions encompass a spectrum of fictional narratives, ironic additions, comparisons and protest campaigns, as well as superimpositions of individual museum objects.
 

Made and sponsored by

Imprint (download)

The project is funded in the 360° program – fund for cultures of the new urban society of the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

Press and public relations

Contact Karin Berrio karin.berrio@stadt-frankfurt.de