C& Magazine #9: You Are Already in It: Looking at a Global Diaspora

<p>Gabi Ngcobo is the artistic director of the 10th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art — a good moment to reflect on the ideas of “the global” in the German art capital. Berlin’s institutions are pointedly trying to produce “politically correct” projects that are committed to artistic positions beyond Euro-America and don’t shy away from “problematic issues” such as (post)colonialism, migration, and nationalism. Examples during this and last year include the solo exhibition of Kemang Wa Lehulere as Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year, at the bank’s KunstHalle, and ifa’s year-long project around the theme “Colonial Legacy and Contemporary Society,” featuring distinguished names such as that of installation artist Pascal Marthine Tayou. Most recently the Hamburger Bahnhof opened its major exhibition <em>Hello World</em>, examining the “globality” of their collections. <em>Hello World</em> is part of a broader trend of German museums exploring that question — at least for now, based on current funding priorities.</p> <p>These examples indubitably demonstrate that the German cultural landscape is (finally) starting to question its contextual approaches and policies. But what relevance does this really have in broader social contexts? How enduring is it, after all?</p> <p>From October 2016 to May 2017, the German Historical Museum in Berlin presented an exhibition on German colonialism. There is plenty to say about that, but to give you a feel for where all our questions come from, here is an actual encounter one of us had while reading a text about Afro-German history in the exhibition. Suddenly a gallery assistant approached, asking: “Excuse me, do you speak German? You have to move a bit farther from the display, please.” As an Afro- German visiting an exhibition on colonialism, to be asked whether one speaks German — despite obviously reading a German text while leaning over a display about Afro-German history — was aggravating, to say the least, and symptomatic of a larger issue: the continuing stasis when it comes to the definition of who is and who is not German.</p> <p>So what do all the above-mentioned efforts mean in a country, a city, whose institutions are starting to speak “global,” but where moments like these still happen with significant frequency? Zooming in on the arts and culture scene, it is clear that most producers and audiences are not aware of either these kinds of situations or the concrete implications of notions such as (post)coloniality, migration, and racism. Their understanding rarely extends beyond the tendency to capitalize on a “global art quota.”</p> <p>Hey, don’t get us wrong. Berlin is a great, open, and international city. And a growing acknowledgement of art as global is undeniably a very positive development. Having Gabi Ngcobo as this year’s curator of the Berlin Biennale is a huge deal. The unfortunate thing is that when talking to members of the art scene or reading the German arts pages, it’s a big deal because she is a Black South African woman curating this biennale together with an all-Black team. To quote one such article, “Art is the new Black” (“Kunst ist das neue Schwarz”). This is unfortunate because it reflects the ongoing hierarchies within the art world, of which many are not even aware.</p> <p>We still live in an (art) world where a Euro-American “us” exists alongside a Global South “other.” So if the latter breaks into the former’s system — unfortunately it is still a big deal. The upcoming Berlin Biennale will surely use the chance to create a corrective, place things in a new perspective, and confuse entrenched ideas.</p>