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VzV,vK! / REENACTING THE ARCHIVE – part 2 |
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REENACTING THE ARCHIVE is a project realized in several parts, in which claudia bosse examines different views of the world and the composition of representational displays – in the framework of a 3-year residency at FFT düsseldorf. based on referencing different periods (1902, 1926, 1937) it compares historical exhibition concepts, their objects and modes of display and architecture. exhibitions are hereby understood as compositions of cultural projections, national education and propaganda. experimental works based on the research documents and displays will lead to visibility in the urban space. the chosen areas in düsseldorf are hybrid or cultural assemblages and areas of historical representation. activating cultural identities inscribed in the traces of the city.
REENACTING THE ARCHIVE – part 1 tracks the historical forms of representing "the other" in germany based on the düsseldorf exhibition of industry and commerce of 1902. how do the construction and (historical) representation of territory and "the other" extend into our present?
part 1 is the first presentation of REENACTING THE ARCHIVE: a procession that brings back material from the archive into the present public space linking it with narratives of the research, starting from the city archive and passing different locations. a mobile installation that is accompanied by elements of sound and lecture, by facts and fictions, by reenactments of single photographies together with citizens of düsseldorf. overwriting the urban space of today. the carried objects open up connections between past and present. for a certain time, photographies of the archive left in 3 different spots overlay the public space.
for several weeks claudia bosse and günther auer were in the city archive of düsseldorf researching the exhibition of industry and commerce that took place in the city in 1902, representing "other cultures" for the first time in düsseldorf as part of an exhibition. besides industrial goods, art, war machinery and factories of concrete it contained a separate colonial exhibition with a nubian and arab village, also known as "cairo street", "orient street" or "cairo", located nearby the rhine. the show in düsseldorf represented 100 arabs and 30 nubians living in their "native living conditions" in small families or village communities from 1st may till 20th october, performing their "everyday-life" daily from 10am –12pm, as was popular during that period in world expositions and "human zoos". postcards show some of them gathering in a market scene, others in an arab school in front of oriental carpets, surrounded by spectators. visitors could walk through the "oriental everyday life" and study behaviour, colours and languages. an artificial scenery in the middle of town with a "gate" separating "cairo" from düsseldorf. an immersive setting for cross-cultural experiences along the rhine.
what is the meaning of such a staged arab quarter in the temporary architecture of a huge industrial exhibition? does the experience of a temporary "otherness" in the own living environment confirm the "rightness" of the own culture and the rituals of everyday life? did the observation of convictions incorporated in colonial germany at that time raise any questions?
REENACTING THE ARCHIVE is a remittance work produced for FFT that will be continually developed till 2019. |
