Who Knows Tomorrow
When art becomes part of a political agenda

The Nationalgalerie Berlin has invited five renowned artists of African descent to present mostly site-specific installations in public spaces for the occasion of the exhibition Who Knows Tomorrow, which opened on June 2nd. The exhibition gives a view of Africa´s colonial past as a mirror of Europe, and opens a reflection about history, identity, globalization, multiculturalism and migration. Who Knows Tomorrow connects these political, social and historical approaches with some important buildings of the German capital. The works of El Anatsui, Zarina Bhimji, António Ole, Yinka Shonibare MBE and Pascale Marthine Tayou are able to be seen until September, 26th 2010 in Berlin.

The main question of the exhibition is not about African art, it is rather an approach to Africa´s connections  with German and European history. The starting point of the exhibition is the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, considered as the beginning of European colonialization in Africa. By that time, Germany emerged as an imperial power promoted by Otto von Bismarck´s Realpolitik, which demanded an overseas policy moved by merchantilist thesis and ideas of power. Bismarck, the first German chancellor (1862-1890) to William I of the Prussian Kingdom, put Prussia in the foreground of European imperialism and Germany as a third colonial power in Africa. This new imperialist period had as outcome the formalisation of the Scramble for Africa, which resulted in the elimination of most existing forms of African self-governance and autonomy. Later on, the struggle between these European imperialist powers around Africa, amongst other issues, led to World War I, after which Germany lost all its colonial power in the African continent.

In the early stage of the construction of the German national identity, several emblematic museums and monuments were built in the capital city, Berlin. The appointed architect was Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who played a major role in the construction of buildings that would serve the purpose of this ideal. For instance, the design of the Museum Island, with its neoclassical style, linked Germany with antique Greek and Roman empires. Besides this, museums such as Altes Museum, Pergamon Museum and Neues Museum were places of knowledge about other cultures, but also represented German power either in archiving collections of antique Greek, Roman, Egyptian or Persian empires; or presenting important legacies from private collectors of art of the 19th century, who donated their works to the Alte Nationalgalerie. Thus, art was a pretext to show how powerful the new German state was, and the Prussian King was aware of the immanent connection between politics, art and culture.

In Who Knows tomorrow, individual artists interpret German history and its search for identity, mirroring Africa and its relation to Berlin of the 19th century. Interestingly, there is a sort of nostalgia about Germany´s colonial past and current African-German issues and post-colonial concerns are in some way overseen. The artworks present almost forgotten ties between Europe and Africa reflecting about social history, recalling memory and hybridization.

Outside the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum - built as a train station in the second half of the 18th century, which later became one of the major museums of contemporary art in Berlin - we can appreciate the monumental installation of António Ole, an artist born in Luanda in 1951 and who lives there. The installation The Entire World/Transitory Geometry (2010) on the left wing of the museum shows globalized trade and local improvised housing constructions in Angola, re-interpreting massive containers as a private sphere. These precarious buildings made with found materials remind us of similar constructions we might find in urban areas in big cities in Asia or Latin America, and have become also a subject-matter in some outskirts of major European cities, for instance Paris or London. The container marks a border between the museum architecture and the massive metal structure. It represents the gap between rich and poor and shows some consequences of global trade. 

Inside the museum, on the first floor, is Zarina Bhimji´s video Waiting, 2007, about a sisal-processing factory that was introduced by Germans to the German colonies in East Africa. The material is used for ropes, carpets and cords. Born to Indian immigrants in Mbarara, Uganda, Zarina Bhimji is known for her poetic works in photography, video and interviews. A former student of Goldsmith´s College, London, where she lives and works today, she has developed work based on her observations about history and memory, especially of Africa and Europe, but also has done a series of journeys through Africa tracing Africa´s and India´s colonial past.

The front facade of the Alte Nationalgalerie is partly covered by the site-specific installation Ozone Layer and Yam Mounds (2010) by Ghanian artist El Anatsui, born 1944 in Anyako. The piece, which hangs on the entrance columns of the building, in front of the inscription with golden letters DER DEUTSCHEN KUNST MDCCCLXXI (TO GERMAN ART MDCCCLXXI), is a colourful tapestry made with industrial recycled or wasted materials. The building and its almost temple-like meaning is threathened by this installation and shows the importance of thinking about colonial responsibility and its consequences. El Anatsui, who lives in Nigeria, got international attention with his installation for the 52nd Venice Biennale, for which he did a complex installation composed by a netting of thousands of bottle tops.

For Who Knows Tomorrow, Yinka Shonibare MBE got the 14th century neo-gothic Friedrichswerde Church, known for its collection of busts made by German sculptor Christian Friedrich Tieck. In the sculpture installation Colonel Tarleton and Mrs. Oswald Shooting, 2007, a leisure activity of British aristocracy is hiding brutal violence and immorality. On one side, we see a headless Colonel Tarleton, who was an active supporter for slavery, on the other we see Mrs. Oswald, whose husband became rich thanks to slave plantations. Both are hunting pheasants. The installation is placed in an area surrounded by sculptures of German personalities. It seems as if these British characters are dialoguing with their German counterparts.
In Scramble for Africa, 2003, the artist represents the Berlin conference of 1884-85 portraying European leaders during a meeting at a table with the African map on top of it, discussing how they would divide the African continent. However, they are dressed in Victorian costumes with African patterns - actually, these are batik painted textiles produced in Indonesia which the British Commonwealth sent to Africa. In his work, there is a subtle criticism about mechanisms of power. With these installations, the church looses its holy meaning and becomes part of a political debate.
Yinka Shonibare MBE (London, 1962) got international recognition in 1997 when he was part of the exhibition Sensation, organized by Saatchi Gallery, which featured the so-called Young British Artists (YBA). The artist, who grew up in Nigeria, became famous showing European characters and European history as if they were conquered by African people. 

Further on, we can appreciate the installation Colonial Erection, 2010, of Pascale Marthine Tayou at the Neue Nationalgalerie. This transparent building was designed by Mies van der Rohe and it considered an icon of modern architecture. It was opened in 1968 in West Berlin as a counterpart to the Alte Nationalgalerie, which was in former GDR.
Colonial Erection shows 54 African flags in front of the main entrance of the museum as if it would be the entrance of an international institution or convention center and gives the building a new meaning. Around the flag installation, there are some large-scale polychrome wooden sculptures of colon, figures that represent the colonizers by African people. Again, the building´s facade is challenged by the artwork. It confronts the viewer to make her/him think about the presence of African people in global political decisions, but also about the national identities represented by the flags.
Cameroonian artist Pascale Marthine Tayou (Yaoundé, 1967) is a former law student who became a self taught artist, after fearing to become part of the corrupt legal system of his country. He began his artistic career in the nineties after spending some years in Europe, mostly in Belgium where he still lives.

Close to the Neue Nationalgalerie, the Daimler Chrysler Collection at Potsdamer Platz is also showing contemporary African art in the exhibition Ampersand, featuring at the same time works from Daimler´s art collection with works of South African artists. I believe that this exhibition is more related to the fact of the football world championship in South Africa than to the African art scene. In any case, African art is in.

Text: Katerina Valdivia Bruch

September 2010