The digital platform talkingobjectsarchive.org is accessible online!
The digital launch marked the culmination of the conceptual phase, bringing together the core thinkers and contributors of the TALKING OBJECTS ARCHIVE once again in a moderated, bilingual livestream (English/French) that was open to the public.
Moderated by Aisha Camara, with artistic interventions and insights into the living archive, we celebrated the start of this new phase. Wonderful guests included the archive's curatorial team and Federal Minister Claudia Roth, who presented her favourite item from the archive. Many other contributors also shared their favourite archive objects.
The program of the digital launch included, among other things:
- An introduction by the Curatorial Team of the Talking Objects Archive: Chao Tayiana Maina, Isabel Raabe, Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, and Malick Ndiaye.
- Welcome remarks by the Federal Minister of Culture and the Media Claudia Roth, who also presented her favorite item from the archive, as well as by Rose Field, Head of Program Arts and Culture at KfW Stiftung.
- A presentation of the digital archive by Chao Tayiana Maina and visual intelligence.
- Artistic interludes by Nando Nkrumah, Alibeta, and Gladys Kalichini.
- Presentations of favourite archive items by contributors.
The digital archive, drawing on objects from both European and African museum collections, develops strategies for a more expansive understanding of knowledge. The public platform is designed for researchers, artists, and anyone interested in decolonial approaches to knowledge production. At its core is the question: “What might knowledge beyond European knowledge systems look like today?”
The dynamic digital structure of the TALKING OBJECTS ARCHIVE was developed in collaboration with African Digital Heritage (Nairobi) and designers from visual intelligence (Berlin). Themes woven into the archive’s framework range from reflections on knowledge, identity, memory, and the imaginary to questions of restitution and reclamation.
The TALKING OBJECTS ARCHIVE is hosted by African Digital Heritage, Nairobi.
The TALKING OBJECTS ARCHIVE was initiated by Isabel Raabe. The curatorial team includes Chao Tayiana Maina, Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Isabel Raabe, and Malick Ndiaye.
It was developed in collaboration with African Digital Heritage (Nairobi), visual intelligence (Berlin), and the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire/IFAN (Dakar).
The TALKING OBJECTS ARCHIVE is supported by the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien/BKM (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), KfW Stiftung, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the German Federal Foreign Office, and the Goethe-Institut.