Simon Fujiwara Return to Who? (from the collection of Humboldt Who), 2021
Sculpture: Styrofoam, string, vitrine
Collages: pastel, pencil, inkjet prints on paper
170 x 50 x 50 cm (vitrine, overall)
80,2 x 60,2 x 3,5 cm each (2 collages, framed)
Collages: pastel, pencil, inkjet prints on paper
170 x 50 x 50 cm (vitrine, overall)
80,2 x 60,2 x 3,5 cm each (2 collages, framed)
Return to Who? (from the collection of Humboldt Who) presents a sculpture of an African mask inside a museum-like display case. The work draws on the controversy surrounding the contextualization and ownership of art, artifacts and ritual objects removed by colonizing powers. More specifically, the title refers to Berlin's recently inaugurated Humboldt Forum, named for the 18th century German explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). .
Two collages accompany the object in the vitrine. One depicts the outside of the Berliner Schloss, which houses the Humboldt Forum. Recently finished, the reconstruction, with an exact replica of the facade of the historical castle which had been destroyed in 1945 by Allied bombing. The second framed collage pictures the modern atrium inside the Berliner Schloss and below the image of a work from the collection of Asian art, the sculpture of a processional bull Nandi (Shiva’s mount) dated to the 19th–20th century.
Two collages accompany the object in the vitrine. One depicts the outside of the Berliner Schloss, which houses the Humboldt Forum. Recently finished, the reconstruction, with an exact replica of the facade of the historical castle which had been destroyed in 1945 by Allied bombing. The second framed collage pictures the modern atrium inside the Berliner Schloss and below the image of a work from the collection of Asian art, the sculpture of a processional bull Nandi (Shiva’s mount) dated to the 19th–20th century.
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