Traces of Violence: The German Empire in Southern Africa

The first genocide of the 20th century was committed by the German Empire between 1904 and 1908 in South West Africa, today Namibia. The genocide was directed against the Nama and Her- ero ethnic groups, indigenous peoples of this region. In their work, Marcelo Brodsky and Hildegard Titus, who are both artists and human rights activists, address this crime against humanity, the way in which it is remembered and reappraised.

Marcelo Brodsky believes in the importance of art for the social debate, especially in its power to influence public opinion and attract media attention. During his activist work, Brodsky met the German human rights lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck – founder and director of ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights). Following this encounter, Brodsky invited the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation based in Namibia to develop an art project on their case and present it in Berlin.

The series will be shown alongside work by Hildegard Titus. Her series titled ‚Us Now‘ is a conversation and a dialogue that aims for remembrance and healing. It is an invitation to connect with young Namibians from various backgrounds expressing their stories, their feelings, their aspirations. By speaking about the ways in which the narrators relate to their heritage and identity, the works also touch upon the ways in which we all relate to one another.

On Friday, 19 November there will be two panels talking about the content of the exhibition:

ART & REPRESENTATION OF GENOCIDE

18:30-19:15 h
Participants:
Robert Rodriguez (Scholar, A & M University, Texas, USA)
Mercia Kandukira (Artist/Scholar, SUNY Binghamton University, USA)
Marcelo Brodsky (Artist, Argentina & Spain )
Heike Becker (Scholar/Author, University of Western Cape, South Africa)
Hildegard Titus (Artist, Windhoek, Namibia)
Uazuvara Ewald Kapombo Katjivena (Author, Artist, Kristiansand, Norway)

GENOCIDE IN NAMIBIA

19:30-20:30 h
Participants:
Ngondi Kamatuka (Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, USA)
Barnabas Katuuo (Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, USA)
Vepuka Kauari (Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, USA)
Rolando Vazquez (University of Utrecht, Netherlands)
Wolfgang Kaleck (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, (ECCHR), Berlin. (coordinator)

Virtual Tour

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