Between Memories and Possibilities
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Together with philosopher Hanune Shalati I work with representatives of the Kogi people from Columbia, the traditional owners of the famous Tairona goldworks. Most of their holy relics were taken from their sacred sites in the 20th century and sold to collectors all over the world. To the Kogi people the theft of those hallows means nothing less than the loss of their gods.
The western art context usually treats such holy relics like simple art objects: aestehetically separated, isolated and installed like sculptures their cultural significance as part of a ceremoial performative is being almost completely ignored. But does the aesthetic approach of degrading such hallows to "extra-European art" not reduce our understanding of them to mere superficiality? And if so, how could we ever reach a deeper understanding of such "things" if not by asking those who "made" them?
Under the umbrella of the foundation Culture & Development e.V. we have developped a program that aims to acquire Tairona goldworks from the art world by motivating art collectors to purchase and donate such hallows to their traditional owners, thus becoming patrons of Kogi heritage.
GO TO WORKS
image source: www.precolumbiancultures.com/images/TAIRONA
Traducir al español con GOOGLE
Together with philosopher Hanune Shalati I work with representatives of the Kogi people from Columbia, the traditional owners of the famous Tairona goldworks. Most of their holy relics were taken from their sacred sites in the 20th century and sold to collectors all over the world. To the Kogi people the theft of those hallows means nothing less than the loss of their gods.
The western art context usually treats such holy relics like simple art objects: aestehetically separated, isolated and installed like sculptures their cultural significance as part of a ceremoial performative is being almost completely ignored. But does the aesthetic approach of degrading such hallows to "extra-European art" not reduce our understanding of them to mere superficiality? And if so, how could we ever reach a deeper understanding of such "things" if not by asking those who "made" them?
Under the umbrella of the foundation Culture & Development e.V. we have developped a program that aims to acquire Tairona goldworks from the art world by motivating art collectors to purchase and donate such hallows to their traditional owners, thus becoming patrons of Kogi heritage.
GO TO WORKS
image source: www.precolumbiancultures.com/images/TAIRONA