Single Review on past events

The discussion with artists on "Everything passes except the past" in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Brussels took place on Wednesday, 30 June 2021.

About:

Everything Passes Except the Past takes an artistic and discursive approach to coming to grips with a colonial past that remains present in museums, public space, and image archives. The contributions to the project which is now available as a book, propose visionary theoretical, practical, and ethical foundations for future museums based on artistic and curatorial remediation of ethnographic collections. They also cover the role of colonial films in our collective and national memory, as well as the challenges and perspectives of tearing down or replacing monuments and renaming streets.

In this event, Jana Haeckel, the coordinator of the project and Bianca Baldi, one of the contributing artists, introduce the project and their work, followed by a comment by Kirsten Mahlke and room for audience questions.

Speakers:

Dr. Jana Johanna Haeckel is an art historian, independent curator and lecturer based in Brussels. Her written and curatorial work focuses on the critical reflection of visual representation and documentation strategies in (post-)photography, with a special interest in postcolonial theory and intersectional feminism. She currently works for the Goethe-Institut Brussels.

Bianca Baldi is a South-African artist based in Brussels. She deals with hidden infrastructures and narratives in her films, installations, photographs and images. Evoking the histories of film, studio photography and trompe-l’oeil, she positions carefully chosen objects and images revealing complex webs of political, economic and cultural influences. Her work has been featured in several international exhibitions.

Prof. Dr. Kirsten Mahlke is Professor of Cultural Theory and Methodology at the Department of Literature, Art and Media Studies at the University of Konstanz. Her interests include racism and colonialism in literature, and she is currently curating an exhibition on the colonial history of the city of Konstanz from 1500 up until 1900 with her students.
Recent publications:
- Malinche y sus conquistadoras. In: Felix Hinz und Xavier López Medellín (eds.), Hernan Cortés revisado. 500 años de conquista española de México (1519-1521), Madrid: Vervuert 2021 (in print)
- Viele Welten, viele Möglichkeiten und die Begrenzung des Menschen: Atomistische Ethik und Wissenschaftstheorie. In: König/Schlaudt (eds.), Was ist Kosmos? Heidelberg: C. Winter 2021 (in print)

Moderation: Cornelia Klocker (Postdoctoral Fellow / Dept. of Law)

General links:

Book: https://www.sternberg-press.com/product/everything-passes-except-the-past/
Everything Passes Except the Past Project: https://www.goethe.de/prj/lat/en/prj/ale.html
Bianca Baldi: https://www.biancabaldi.net/
Konstanzer Kolonialgeschichte: https://www.litwiss.uni-konstanz.de/mahlke/forschung/projekte/konstanzer-kolonialgeschichte/