Das Museumslabor Dahlem
There are many artefacts of Aboriginal peoples on and off display in Berlin's Ethnological Museum Dahlem. Some of them are “altjerringa” or “secret-sacred” in english. Some of those hallows are capable to cast powerful curses, others are said to carry the twin souls of now deceased Aboriginal people. Until today those specific "altjerringa" are a nation's connection to its ancestors and the land on which they live. In Australia such hallows represent tremendous political problems for public and private collections; in recent time the pressure from the Aboriginal councils has even lead to a mass return of secret-sacred objects to their original nations. Due to the complaints of the Australian embassy about the disregard of indigenous cultural protocols in the past, most of the museum's altjerringa were taken off display and stored in the basement whilst some are still being shown for educational reasons.
I decided to restage Dahlem’s exhibition of Arrernte artefacts at the „Museumslabor Dahlem“ as part of an art education program about indigenous protocols. In the appearance of a live-webcam video streams with time and location codes programmed on top, the particular vitrines displaying the remaining "altjerringa" framed various scientific and artistic works about this taboo. „The protocol archive“ was one of the mixed-media installations to highlight the complexities of Aboriginal image prohibitions surrounding such delicate relics. People were invited to put the said warning messages, printed on wooden boards, to the test and to block those parts of the projection where „altjerringa“ could be seen. Nevertheless, the visitors soon realized that they could not „un-see“ them, once having entered the exhibition.
The “Museumslabor Dahlem” was accompanied by an artistic research about the provenance of those exhibits, all belonging to the “Wettengel Collection” (see right). The collector Nikolaus Wettengel was a German missionary for the Lutheran church who lived in Australia and converted Aboriginal children in Hermannsburg between 1896 and 1906. The publication “Die Sammlung Wettengel” is a chronological reconstruction of his correspondence with the church and indicates that he has plundered a secret-sacred cave where those “altjerringa” were hidden before he sold them to the “Völkerkundemuseum Berlin”. One might ask why they are not simply returned to the Arrernte nation in Central Australia. It turns out that their restitution to their traditional owners also clashes with indigenous protocols. It appears that within the communities nobody would even dare to accept, let alone look at them if they were ever returned. It isn’t clear to which totemic clan they belong and no Aboriginal person wants to risk breaking a sacred taboo by looking at another clan’s “altjerringa”.
So when the question of restitution is asked, the old saying applies:
You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.
There are many artefacts of Aboriginal peoples on and off display in Berlin's Ethnological Museum Dahlem. Some of them are “altjerringa” or “secret-sacred” in english. Some of those hallows are capable to cast powerful curses, others are said to carry the twin souls of now deceased Aboriginal people. Until today those specific "altjerringa" are a nation's connection to its ancestors and the land on which they live. In Australia such hallows represent tremendous political problems for public and private collections; in recent time the pressure from the Aboriginal councils has even lead to a mass return of secret-sacred objects to their original nations. Due to the complaints of the Australian embassy about the disregard of indigenous cultural protocols in the past, most of the museum's altjerringa were taken off display and stored in the basement whilst some are still being shown for educational reasons.
I decided to restage Dahlem’s exhibition of Arrernte artefacts at the „Museumslabor Dahlem“ as part of an art education program about indigenous protocols. In the appearance of a live-webcam video streams with time and location codes programmed on top, the particular vitrines displaying the remaining "altjerringa" framed various scientific and artistic works about this taboo. „The protocol archive“ was one of the mixed-media installations to highlight the complexities of Aboriginal image prohibitions surrounding such delicate relics. People were invited to put the said warning messages, printed on wooden boards, to the test and to block those parts of the projection where „altjerringa“ could be seen. Nevertheless, the visitors soon realized that they could not „un-see“ them, once having entered the exhibition.
The “Museumslabor Dahlem” was accompanied by an artistic research about the provenance of those exhibits, all belonging to the “Wettengel Collection” (see right). The collector Nikolaus Wettengel was a German missionary for the Lutheran church who lived in Australia and converted Aboriginal children in Hermannsburg between 1896 and 1906. The publication “Die Sammlung Wettengel” is a chronological reconstruction of his correspondence with the church and indicates that he has plundered a secret-sacred cave where those “altjerringa” were hidden before he sold them to the “Völkerkundemuseum Berlin”. One might ask why they are not simply returned to the Arrernte nation in Central Australia. It turns out that their restitution to their traditional owners also clashes with indigenous protocols. It appears that within the communities nobody would even dare to accept, let alone look at them if they were ever returned. It isn’t clear to which totemic clan they belong and no Aboriginal person wants to risk breaking a sacred taboo by looking at another clan’s “altjerringa”.
So when the question of restitution is asked, the old saying applies:
You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.