Transcripts For DW Stolen Soul - Africas Looted Art 20240712

Weve been going to see you must be one of the people. And then to move it is up to. The gulf for live when you roll up of People Living in a time of Cultural Heritage then you steal their souls. And then you can enslave them with this club. Well. He did it the mall what happened hollowed out society midtown to time it was dramatic and that wasnt even the worst that happened to become a. Monk gundogan least you can walk up to the soul of a people use it at least thats the logical museums are like prison is famous it is in their prisons as it. Was. A little. Bit with. Their. Life. Like. The banks of the warrior river on the edge of the coastal city of tijuana. Last minute preparations are underway in a few days time the most influential families into all out will be competing in a canoe race. In the yeah i think the contest is a traditional part of the annual gondo water festival. Valere and pay is the chairman of the festivals board of elders hes checking up on progress only after the carved wooden figurehead known as the tongue gate is put in place can the event begin the. The tongue game is only put in place on saturday and sunday gets the very last part of the preparations. Its not done it any old time not a traditionally its done on the eve of the event as well and its not done by any old person is if i think shows he defined object on that is was way too long. On a dollar. And the 10 k. Is not merely decorative. It is a magical object bought loose all sides of the outcome of the canoe race. As a walker the victory or defeat depends on it. The fed did up yaga the time game contains the forces of the rivers steps. Year 0. 403 value of. Them or. One of these ornate figureheads was looted by german colonial powers in the 19th century the latest young like of. These regional elders have a deep respect for the cult of the tongue and of the driver the issues of colonial looting war and the repatriation of african art is every bit as pressing a topic here as it is in europe you chop off all the skin i get the impression that our debate here tends to remain very eurocentric off option b. No one is talking to africans and asking them what they envisage what solutions they have in mind and want to sort of cooperation they would like to say here is the repatriation of objects so this. Some of which are over 100 years old what matters most to them all might they have other priorities figure speak to where not say all i am not saying that everything should be right on but if there are walls that were taken on the very last our conditions i think they should be returned to their own good justification for the killing spree massacre and their political be any justification for the continued return for the consumer attention. To work lives in the middle of. The Cultural Heritage were stripped away in a brutal fashion nothing can fill the void that was left. With a couple thats why its important that repatriation occurs. Some theres no doubt that it would help reconcile a violently fractured society dilemma fighting the war in the late 19th century german and british colonialists were scrambling for influence on the coast of cameroon in 884 the dualla kings signed a treaty of protection with german trade representatives. Good luck oppose the treaty several months later he felt the full force of germanys military muscle when german war ships reached. Under semper 21st 884 his village was attacked and torched at least 25 people lost their lives. The german consul maxed out wrote in his journal the house of la presale is being torn down a stirring striking image we are setting everything on fire. As booty both not took a wood carving from the house a tangle the futile boat ornaments belonging to luck present. When max book now returned to munich a year later he gave this tangay to the royal ethnographic collect. Todays 5 continents museum. A gift drenched in blood today over 100 years later curator stefan aizen hoffa is grappling with the question of this wrongfully obtained objects ownership. Doesnt anyone else have noisy since the late 1990 s. Professor prince comandante both heard that it has been demanding its return on the grounds that he is its Rightful Owner but he says shift orders are that undermine this is a time there that belonged to my grandfather i am his successor so on why the. But the germans say that i am my grandfathers rightful heir. Woman was a. Dinin city in southern nigeria. Sadly in recent decades its notoriety as a hub of Human Trafficking has eclipsed its centuries old reputation as a center of arts and crafts and specifically bronze works. Not far from the royal palace of the. Street is a unesco World Heritage site home of the guild of binny bronze casters. And local artist in a tear or is visiting his friend a wayne in his broadcasting workshop that he uses the same method employed 700 years ago. With the last wax process molten metal is poured into a mold that has been created with a wax model once the mold is made the wax model is melted and drained away the process means that each work is unique but these days scrap metal is used as well as bronze is a 4 minute walk from the river to off. The purest process of the children is to their party to the old tutor to visual children though i consider a lot of them are coming from history so well get the references from where the good bit of a post got off so costello. So i would bide their. Time its got to measure to. One side yes weve seen a little so yes of course these are brits surprised he did make people feel most times to eat us its all part of our bodies he misses. 897 the kingdom of bin mean in todays nigeria was rich and Palm Oil Rubber and ivory trade with the europeans was flourishing but the king. Was a thorn in the side of the british who wanted greater influence in what was the last independent kingdom in the region they sent a small expedition to binning city it was ambushed on route leaving 7 british officials dead in response the british launched a punitive expedition by a force of 1200 soldiers of the royal navy. The troops burned down towns and villages massacring local residents once they had captured the city they began looting its monuments and the royal palace ivory wood carvings masks bronze sculptures and reliefs thousands of valuable artifacts were stolen shipped to europe and distributed to its major museums berlin ended up with one of the largest collections. The obama was sent into exile. To this day there has been little repatriation of these looted artifacts in 2000 prints aidoo and submitted a formal requests. To the british house of commons for restitution of a number of items in vain i think you will want to track she telling of the stance. They belong here they said they were made down wheedle the puppet was the reason why we made them is how i had it and every country corn laws they are headed to they have to not to hit the wall which would miss things looted the vacuum has been left. To. Really look at. The beneath a National Museum showcases the history of the famous been in bronzes what Little Museum director feel for those on the buy explains their significance robert byrds had when i was a liberal blogs here and i would go jani used for their shrines hound the palace of the of all that is now roses removed not just for his tactics the aughts was sick and really more Team New Zealand its tells the story. So the Bronze Councils were part of the crew the class of the history of good in the history of est. Immortalized in bronze. The newly renovated museum houses works made after the british conquest of the older works are in europe and the us you are just taking a road map to tell our story. Because part of the time. They said we lived on trees. With a monkeys. Will be easily and that without cause our were british savages and so on those awful what is are the orgasm broads the change and that its about us. Germanys ethnological museums are brimming with artifacts amassed over seas bought traded gifted and looted well over 1500000 of them. But only 5 percent have ever been put on display in many instances little is known about them beyond brief notes in the museums inventories to whom did they originally belong what was their purpose Provenance Research can help shed light on their origins but often entails laborious detective work so that the Linden Museum stuttgart is looking into the provenance of its limit the a collection with the help of stephen issaka from the initiative heritage watch namibia would be for starters we would not know what in the stalls of european museums we would not we would not have the full inventory the size the log of the markets in basically our museum store it is awful our guys are some of the artifacts are increasingly in a state of disrepair because museums are unable to restore them and properly look after them for. A bit on. 2 objects have been exhibited in stuttgart just twice in over 100 years a bible and a whip from namibia. In 2013 the Namibian Embassy formally requested their return. German southwest africa 893. Hendrik with boy lived in a village called han cons he was the chief of a nama clan and a devout lutheran. Driven by his religious ideals he rebelled against the cruelty of the colonial oppressors. That apra german colonial forces attacked and ransacked the village 80 people were brutally murdered and the others taken by the soldiers who also made off with whip boys bible and cattle web after the massacre with boy was forced to cooperate with the colonial authorities but he later led another uprising before he was killed in action in 1005. In the subsequent genocide over half the nama population was wiped out by german forces. Boys bible and whip or donated to the Linden Museum in germany 117 years later theyre about to return to namibia. Hard to say lets talk on the today is the last day that these items will be exhibited in the museum next week theyll be packed up weve had a special protective box made for them exhibits and ill have it with me on the plane in. February 29000 the delegation touches down in lynn talk early in the morning. Was. Entered with boys descendants on attending the reception. And. This is just. This it. Was in. A debate about the repatriation a stolen art has been raging in berlin for some time the rebuilds berlin city palace will house the humble it forum which will serve as the new home of the ethnological museum. But how many of its treasures are colonial blood antiquities. The home of forum has brought the issue of looted art center stage. Its not the 1st time that berlin has been at the heart of a debate about. The african continent promised the colonial rulers wealth and power. Colonial expansion was in full flow when in 884 german chancellor the 2000 bismarck invited european diplomats to berlin for what would go down in history as the congo conference. There they drew up a framework to regulate european colonization and trade in africa overriding most existing forms of african autonomy and Self Governance britain france portugal belgium and germany all scrambled for their share they carved up the continent between them arbitrarily drawing up borders that partly exist to this day. Many former colonies are still struggling to gain economic independence to resolve lingering conflicts over those arbitrarily drawn borders and to overcome the sense of inferiority instilled in them by the colonial masters. Theres a lot of colonial mentality people thinking. We have nothing we are nothing we were never anything but so emotional right to be like the cannot must us in order to bring about it as human beings but this narrative is coming to falls. In a bar has opened his studio in binning city to Young Artists many of them explore the trauma of colonial rule in their creative work. Was sad to see keep lens paint with sand from eagle in st the historical home of the big name brands casters. When youre preparing to buck roll will start fine but grow main thing itself always has to be difficult. So that is a connection so a little bit tricky because you have to go to the books too because we dont have the cisco object c. S. L. Economies that relates to this thins one on one. So we must attend to stories concerning the queen on our duties and again on our young people can see this excellent representation of who took me by the house i still wasnt as proud of. Against proud of because western art. Is made up of subjects of 4 forms which are indian to us. She called me a spotless proud a little some level what he wanted because alchemy is powered by african mask you imagine how our africa coming inspired by beefing i must but what i have come to see yeah. An estimated 95 percent of artifacts from the main currently housed in museums overseas were looted during the punitive expedition how are you going to make the strings more legible binning has been calling for their return for more than a century but with no result the artifacts are scattered around the world its a logistical challenge if we want the artifacts book by all means but who do you speak to. You speak to the museum across these do you speak to the government who has picked to design and get her own anastase collections dont belong to the various museums the museums can make recommendations for specific approaches or procedures but ultimately its a political decision because the us effects of public assets is Public Museums in europe are generally custodians and therefore not in a position to make autonomous decisions about repatriation in 2010 useem director bob plank in china cofounded the be need Dialogue Group Museum Directors and delegates from europe and nigeria meet annually to discuss efforts to reunite the binning works of art dispersed in collections around the world. 24 and we started many years ago we were thinking in terms of 10 and thats because museums would have been able to make such decisions themselves as the money critic on the what i would criticize about the brain in Dialogue Group is the lack of transparency and the fact that still talking about prominent loans even though nigerian colleagues see that as a continuation of colonialist privilege and power structures basically the european museums are saying well if you dont agree to permanent loans then you wont get the promises back and become devout. Never said that was the obvious belong to. Now that. This kind of call. I said i look lets bring them in for us let me warn you that. I do not think it is a war. Yes to believe people want it all one to lower. Their want ill treasure tongue. In the name city there is also disagreement over the best course of action clearly it will take more than initiatives like that in the Dialogue Group to resolve the problem. A writer and professor of german language and literature prince coleman do that the 3rd has been calling for a return of his grandfathers tangay for over 20 years. When it was seized by monks in 884 block presented was head of the Billy Bennett people. The Munich Museum where it ended up wants proof that the prince is his rightful heir will. Be advisor they say they want proof a manger and does them both bring in this ive gathered all the documents the germans require showing that i am not preserved was rightful heir. He had so much that goes on this year for example in 1904 a better better name to me heir to the throne i was the consul of the new pres and the prince is an elite member of the ballet by the chiefdom hes a member of the family but hes not the king message but. The gundel water festival is Getting Started on a do one as incumbent kings have gathered. Pointing out there is here to represent the bella bella and lineage was. He has little interest in a tank where the artifacts to be returned to cameroon it would serve to strengthen his rival commandant his claim to the throne is. The power struggle in the bell abene family hampering the repatriation effort. The complexity of just us who owns even if its a complex matter. In our opinion there is insufficient evidence that command dont behave this is not presuppose legitimate successor. He knows we most certainly need further talks because playing with the official head of the bella bella family poland i dont see germany insists on a game shaping with a chieftains authorised person then thats me so there was so as you look question of lot of praise there was succession is fraught with controversy into while he had 32 sons so a number of potential successors including paul does that is he is most definitely not a descendent of lot of brazil germans they dont even realize he doesnt even belong to what results family of 4 look for their lives this is here. Its very hard for us to get to the bottom of this conflict or to give you an offer for the question has to be resolved before we can return the artefact washington. D. C. To people. It might not have a high profile in europe but nigerias contemporary art scene is one of the most vibrant in africa the neco art gallery in lagos opened in 2007 and has displayed work by more than 5000 artists. Oquinn de as collection is the largest in west africa. She has her doubts about the return of the bin in bronzes. I were ready to receive them that is the question. You want us as husband. Has his own opinion. I respect your views and their. View is not what i think should be ok where are they just risen the argument or we dont have a place to keep them who told them to own what we need if i wanted box i would build a place that is called him and so i will know a lot government to build a very more dam was ill but were told that they are not ready. You dont need a special place to keep the last is dead dead or was he killed this should be returned to the palace where distance with studio originally most plays that were into europe it was said to me where if lets say that this is a return to you how are we sure they would not come over to europe again to do they would be sold to you by some people i bet you those who walk i and i do there maybe by now we will not you want to see it again if you look at the news right. There were allies that a lot of the european museums have been broken into and things have been stolen from them in the past you realize that a lot of things have not behaved on the web cat. d but niko is well aware that nigerias art and culture institutions struggle with a lack of funding. Plans for a new royal museum in bi