I do not participate because…
November 30, 2021 – Mai 1, 2022

An intervention in the glass tower of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum

November 30, 2021- Mai 1, 2022

Through actions, events and the poster campaign “I Won’t Participate Because…” the Coalition of Cultural Workers Against the Humboldt Forum (CCWAH) addresses the reconstructed Berlin Palace with its golden cross and orb, where the Humboldt Forum opened several exhibitions in 2021. As an alliance together with Barazani.Berlin and Decolonize Berlin e.V. among others, CCWAH proposes to redirect the resources of this mega-institution into a sustainable and meaningful decolonization of Berlin’s cultural institutions, collections, and programs – and that looted objects be restituted.

Furthermore, as of September 2021, the Humboldt Forum hosts exhibitions and collections of German Ethnological Collections. Some of these objects originate from the Royal Museum of Ethnology, which opened in 1886. The museum was located at the corner of today’s Stresemannstraße and Niederkirchnerstraße, on the parking lot next to Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin Kreuzberg. By order of the Federal Council in 1889, all objects from state scientific and military expeditions and spoils of war were transferred to the museum. After the demolition of the Kreuzberg site, the Ethnological Museum moved to Dahlem in 1964.
Ever since the political decision to rebuild the Berlin Palace, self-organised initiatives such as AfricAvenir, Berlin Postkolonial, No Humboldt 21, Afrotak TV cyberNomads and others have been fighting against the Humboldt Forum and the for the main part looted art on display there. CCWAH takes up these struggles together with them and many others in the present.

curated by Natalie Bayer

Opening hours:
Tue-Thur 12 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Fr-Su 10 a.m.- 8 p.m.

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum
Adalbertstr. 95 A
10999 Berlin