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Nazis and anti-racists threaten ‘Congo village’

With both neo-Nazis and anti-racists apparently threatening to burn down his planned recreation of a 1914 Oslo 'human zoo', the Norwegian-Sudanese artist Mohamed Ali Fadlabi is now more convinced than ever of his idea.

Nazis and anti-racists threaten 'Congo village'
A screen grab from footage from the 1914 centennial celebrations of Norway's constitution. Photo: YouTube
Work is now well underway on the "Congo Village" in Norway's Frogner Park, Fadlabi says, with the entrance gate half-constructed, grass roofing going onto the huts, and more than 80 volunteers recruited as specimens for visitors to scrutinize. 
 
"We've got threats from so-called anti-racist people and we've had threats from neo-Nazis at the same time," Fadlabi tells The Local. "It's so funny, sometimes it seems like it's the same person. The anti-racists threaten to burn the village down, and then you'll get the same promise from the neo-Nazis that they wants to destroy this village which is going to pollute the national identity." 
 
The original Congolese village was built as part of the centenary celebrations for the Norwegian constitution back in 1914, and featured 80 African people shipped in to entertain festival-goers. 
 
Fadlabi told The Local that he and his Swedish collaborator Lars Cuznor had been amazed at how little was known about the village in Norway when they first conceived the project. 
 
"When we heard about it we thought it was a rumour, but then when we started researching it we found out it was true," Fadlabi told The Local. "When we started asking around we were really surprised that no one knew about it."
 
When the two artists announced their plan back in 2011, it generated instant controversy. 
 
Sam Chimaobi Ahamba, the then chairman of the African Youth Norway condemned it as "a reproduction of the stigma we saw in 1914". 
 
"We should not be ready to connect it [the Congo Village] either to the bicentenary or to anything else good, progressive and anti-racist". 
 
In January, Rune Berglund Steen, chairman of Norway's Centre against Racism, argued that the recreation of the exhibition would only please racists. 
 
"It is desirable that we talk about how we celebrated the anniversary last time," he said. "But here, it's being done in a way that will create many unexpected consequences and reactions. I think the only ones who will enjoy this are those with racist attitudes." 
 
Fadlabi says his volunteers, who responded to an advert put out on e-flux, an international art site, are coming from all over the world and will not be instructed on how to dress or behave.
 
"It's a zoo, so people are just living, and it's up to them how they want to live. We're not giving any instructions." 
 
He says he wants the exhibition to help Norwegians see through some of their more comfortable national myths. 
 
"We want to challenge the Norwegian self-image of goodness and try to understand it," he says. "Norway and Scandinavia in general were at the top of the hierarchy in the era of scientific racism and we feel this didn't change so much, but rather than in racism, it's in ethics and equality." 
 
He says he was surprised at the way the original zoo had been airbrushed out of Norwegian history. 
 
"It's totally forgotten. It's so strange we can't understand the reason for this collective amnesia. No one knew about this village until we brought it up," he says. 
 
"We feel that the image that Norway is showing to the world and to themselves is not really an honest one." 
 
Here's a photo of Fadlabi and Cuzner working at the site last week. 
 

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African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old toldĀ AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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