Dear readers, supporters, contributors and friends of EVC, Â
Strolling through a museum (wishful thinking for many of us right now) we often ask ourselves "What is the meaning of an object in its original context?" Museum FĂĽnf Kontinente in Munich, Germany invited Ghanaian scholars to comment on museum objects from Western Africa.The result is a gallery of eight exciting explorations:
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https://www.explore-vc.org/en/galleries/perspectives-from-ghana-on-museum-objects-in-germany.html (You have to click on the "signs" below the pictures to get to the interpretation.) Â
Only a few steps further apart from that museum, at Haus der Kunst, British-Kenyan painter Michael Armitage is featured in a solo exhibition. What might be the meaning behind his often mysterious colorful paintings? Â
We hope you enjoy exploring and reading our latest articles. Â
Kind regards, Â
Rosa Pfluger and Ernst Wagner, on behalf of the EVC Team ‍ |
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January 25th, 2021: 5th Meeting of the Expert Panel The first meeting of the Expert Panel in 2021 took place in late January. Stefan Eisenhofer was welcomed as new member. The concept of a joint exhibition about collective memory is taking shape, and first ideas about a possible cooperation with documenta fifteen were discussed.
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Present: Dr. Ebenezer Acquah, University of Education Winneba, Ghana; Dr. Paul-Henri Souvenir Assako Assako, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon; Dr. Mary Claire Akinyi Kidenda, Technical University Nairobi, Kenya; Dr. Stefan Eisenhofer, Museum Fünf Kontinente... Read more |
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June 3rd - 20th, 2021: Back Coupling - Exhibition in Munich  Â
Twelve young artists from around the world exhibited in Munich. The opening took place on June 3rd, the finissage on June 20. You can still visit the exhibition through our virtual gallery: Link
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Back Coupling is an ongoing artistic research project in the context of globalization & transculturality in art, reflecting different approaches and methods. It takes place within the scope of art pedagogics at Munich Academy of Fine Arts / Exploring Visual Cultures. Art students all over the world will connect and explore differences in the perception... Read more |
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New Objects‍ on the Website
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The Reunification Monument Â
The Reunification Monument recalls an important moment in Cameroon’s history, the political reunification of the “two Cameroons”, the Francophone and the Anglophone part, in 1961, leading up to the birth of the United Republic of Cameroon (the geographical space called Cameroon) in 1972. President Ahmadou Ahidjo and the public authorities commissioned this landmark as a celebration of the Cameroonian people’s prosperity in the aftermath of Independence. The history of this unification is important for education because it brings together the historical memory of approximately... Read more |
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Michael Armitage: Baboon (on view in the Exhibition "Paradise Edict"at Haus der Kunst Munich, 2020/21) Michael Armitage is established as one of the most challenging voices of contemporary painting in the global art world today. He exhibited at important art institutions as the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, the MoMA in New York (with “Projects 110: Michael Armitage” 2019) and the Whitechapel Gallery in London (“Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millenium” 2020). The exhibition “Paradise Edict” at Haus der Kunst Munich is his first solo exhibition in a major European art museum. Read more |
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Rorke’s Drift Pottery Â
The double bird vase by Elizabeth Mbatha is representative of the pottery produced between the mid-1960s and mid-1990s by women potters at the Evangelical Lutheran Church Centre for Art and Craft at Rorke’s Drift (commonly referred to as Rorke’s Drift) in South Africa. The women were members of the local black community and were coaxed by the European staff at the centre towards producing a blend of indigenous traditional craft and Western utilitarian and decorative forms. Even so, Rorke’s Drift pottery represented the agency of indigenous potters to freely and in their personal... Read more |
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New Features‍ on the Website
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 Exhibitions‍ |
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Re-curating the Africa collection of Museum FĂĽnf Kontinente  
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"In Europe there are the objects, in Africa there is the knowledge!" This popular view reflects a certain unease about African objects in museum collections in the Global North. For too long, the selection and presentation of artworks and artefacts for exhibitions and publications as well as their evaluation, and the information conveyed about them, have been in the hands of people who do not live in Africa or who were socialized there. Voices from Africa were and are given too little attention n the context of museums in Europe. Yet the polyphony and different... Read more |
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Collective Memory - National Memory in Cameroon Â

Exhbition curated by Paul-Henri Souvenir ASSAKO ASSAKO
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What is the meaning of the nation for today’s society and how is it lived out? What are its landmarks, its elements of the collective memory that determine its meaning? What are the challenges facing this nation? The exhibition, opened in Douala. Cameroon in October 2020 explores the universe of artists and translates the sensitive and conceptual introspection of the collective memory expressed in their aesthetic production. It aims at bringing into dialogue two levels of the language... Read more |
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Exploring Visual Cultures is collaborative project of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with universities, artists and museums around the world, funded by Engagement Global in the context of implementing the objectives of the Global Learning Framework, and the Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. Contact: info@explore-vc.org
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