TABOO - TRANSGRESSION - TRANSCENDENCE

My presentation focuses on the ongoing research-art project Heimkehren, which explores the pre-war collections in Natural History Museums in Western Europe (currently the Natural History Museum at the University of Wrocław). These collections stem from research expeditions and exchanges between scientific institutions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I am particularly interested in the colonial contexts of these expeditions and exchanges, as well as the materiality of the preserved objects. Some items have suffered degradation due to incomplete descriptions and minor damage, which has caused them to be relegated to the margins of scientific and institutional history. Despite this, they are carefully stored and protected, even if they no longer serve as part of museum displays or scientific circulation. The subject of my visual analysis is the materiality of these non-human bodies, which, through the processes of acquisition, preparation, and cataloging, have become “objects of science”. I’m also interested in their more inaccessible and fragmentary biographies.
The focus of my work is on the materiality and history of museum’s „objects”, particularly bird eggs and bird specimens from pre-war collections. In the scientific section, I examine birds that were damaged due to difficult collection conditions and hasty preparation. From the exhibition section, I am interested in birds that were intended for display, which reveal the theatrical aspect inherent in all natural history museums.
The main part of the project involves photo sessions at the Wrocław Natural History Museum, along with archival research from museums in Berlin, Görlitz, Dresden, and Leipzig. Based on these archives and object descriptions, I will create brief texts accompanying the photographs. The reconstructed and newly created biographies of these scientific objects will reflect the concept of “returning home” (Heimkehren). Additionally, small sculptural works and installations will be developed from the visual and archival research.