Forschungskooperation

We are not Carpets!
I tell you my story

Exhibition at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum

“The beauty of those carpets, designed by the designer, lies in their design. But the beauty of this carpet resides in my heart.” (Anne Beik Koohi)

WE ARE NOT CARPETS examines the centuries-long systematic marginalisation and exploitation of carpet weavers. What happens when they weave their own stories and not the patterns ordered by clients?

The joint exhibition by artist-weavers and researchers from Iran and Germany, WE ARE NOT CARPETS presents newly created, unique personal carpets and their stories, which are experienced in a poetic and cinematic way. The carpets are the result of the collaborative research project “Weaving Memories” which provides weavers from the North Khorasan region in Iran with a platform to tell their stories by transforming their craft into a medium of storytelling and as works of art. The carpets made in this project are accompanied by short poetic videos, created together with the artist-weavers during the making of the carpets. Some of the artist-weavers from Iran will be present in the museum during the exhibition.

WE ARE NOT CARPETS offers visitors the opportunity to learn more about the lives and craft of carpet weavers and to understand the global and local challenges of the exploitative economic and social system. At the same time, the exhibition sheds light on the colonial and capitalist entanglements of exploitation that continue to have an impact today. WE ARE NOT CARPETS invites reflection on the hidden stories behind the carpets and how global economic connections, colonial history, and cultural perceptions have shaped their production and meaning. An exciting accompanying program such as weaving workshops for children and adults as well as discussion formats complement the experience.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum (RJM), the Cologne International Forum, the Global South Studies Center of the University of Cologne, and the FWO-funded research project “Weaving Memories” at the University of Ghent.

Weaver-Artists: Saheb-Jamal Rahimi, Masoumeh Zolfaghari, Zoleikha Davari, Anne Beik Koohi, Asie Davari, Rabe' Rahimi, Sibgol Shekofteh, Masoomeh Mohammadi

Curatorial Team:
Arjang Omrani, Tahereh Aboofazeli, Simone Pfeifer 

Artistic Director, Scenography: Arjang Omrani
Exhibition Design: Arjang Omrani, Saeed Aghai
Graphic Design: Amirali Ghasemi, Sin Seeni
Website: Bahar Ahmadifard, Amirali Ghasemi
Video Arts: Tahereh Aboofazeli, Arjang Omrani, Saeed Aghai 

Venue: RJM, Cäcilienstraße 29–33; 50667 Köln
Vernissage: September 26, 2024, 7 pm
Time: September 27, 2024 until January 5, 2025

Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday: 10-18 h; Thursday: 10-20 h; 1st Thursday of the month: 10-22 h (on holidays 10-18 o’clock); Mondays closed

Website
Flyer

Wissenschaftsforum zu Köln und Essen

Artist Residency 2023: Masello Motana

The Wissenschaftsforum zu Köln und Essen regularly invites outstanding academics and artists to set an example for public science and collaborative knowledge production. The artist-in-residence format 2023 deals with experiences of integration and exclusion in post-migration societies. South African vocal historian and performer Masello Motana, who is this year’s invited artist-in-residence under the title A Homecoming of Sorts, combines high-quality musical performance with rigorous work on memory. She will perform with ›The Vocal Museum‹ at the opening of the African Futures Conference in Cologne on May 31 as part of the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum program. 

»The Vocal Museum is a memoir performance that explores the South African Song Book through a township narrative experience. When I initially put The Vocal Museum together, I was trying to make sense of my own communal memories because in South Africa, there is no consensus on what our history is about. It is very interesting to be invited to a country that has made firm decisions about its past including repatriation of looted objects. Historically, there is much intrigue and artistically, I look forward to the collaborations. There is also engagement with the museum itself in its state of repatriation and transition and the communities that are part of these conversations around confronting and making sense of history in the present.« (Masello Motana)

The performance will feature South African musicians Kegorogile Makgatle and Vincent Ngubane, along with Belgium-based bassist Frank Magongwa and trumpeter Terrence Ngassa from Cologne, performing The Vocal Museum. Motana has performed The Vocal Museum in South Africa at various venues, setting up theaters in public spaces to present the show with a live band. 

The second part of the residency will be a research musical experiment based on a collection of memories and melodies of the Afro German and diasporic communities. The culmination of the experiment will be a collaborative performance with Motana and diaspora and BIPoC musicians based in Germany. The performance will be brought to the stage in the Katakomben Theater Essen on July 4 and on Ebertplatz on July 6. 

In addition, Masello Motana invites the public to remember the Soweto Massacre on June 16, 1976, with a bilingual lecture followed by a get-together. Entitled The Contested Legacies of Black Consciousness in Azania, the artist will present aspects of black consciousness in contemporary South African history that are left out by the the African National Congress’s popularized public politics of memory.

The Counter Museum

Masello Motana’s Vocal Museum
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne
31 May 2023, 8:30 p.m.

The Contested Legacy of Black Consciousness in Azania

A June 16 bilingual lecture and get-together
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum, Cologne
16 June 2023, 5 –9 p.m.

The Diaspora Experiment

A collective sound space on musical memories of diaspora communities in NRW
4 July 2023, 7 p.m.
Katakomben Theater, Essen
6 July 2023, 6 p.m.
Forum Unser Ebertplatz, Cologne

Curated by Dr. Anna Brus, Universität zu Köln.