Colonialism then and now

What attitude is appropriate for Europe to take towards its former colonies? It remains a thorny subject, in Belgium, France and Germany alike. The lager question of colonial injustice has often been raised and discussed in the last years on the basis of the question of restitution.

Overshadowed by the question of how to deal with its nationalsocialist past, a hesitant debate has developed in Germany in last years about the crimes that it committed during colonialism. This debate was accelerated by the relocation of the Ethnological Museum Berlin to the newly built Humboldtforum. It had its high point in 2017 when French art historian Bénédicte Savoy, a professor at the Technische Universität in Berlin left the international team of experts to advise the founding directorate of the Humboldt Forum Berlin because of a lack of attention to provenance research.

Also in Belgium the debate on the injustice that the country committed during the colonization of Congo was pushed by the renewal of a Museum. When the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren opened its doors in December 2018 again after five years of the reconstruction of its permanent exhibition under the guidance of its director Guido Gryssels the debates were lively. While ones thought that it emphasized too much the dark sides of the Belgian colonial rules, others were convinced that the decolonization of the exhibition was only halfhearted.

French president Emmanuel Macron commissioned Felwine Saar and Bénédicte Savoy to carry out a study about the restitution of African objects which have been in the collections of European museums since their theft in the colonial era. One important role in this report play the Benin Bronzes which are nearly entirely in the hands of European Museums. The Beninian art historian Didier Houénoudé is an expert on the question of the African cultural heritage and has reflected and published widely on the question in how far a restituted cultural patrimony of Africa could become a source of development.

These questions will be discussed in a trans-european prespective on this evening by Bénédicte Savoy, Didier Houénoudé and Guido Gryseels, moderated by Pascal Claude.

Flagey, Goethe-Institut Belgien, De Bezige Bij, Tropismes, Buchfink

Throughout the season 19-20, Flagey and Goethe-Institut Belgien present a joint initiative, "Les Deutschlands". During various concerts, lectures and debates, we will present today's Germany in all its diversity. Flagey will be hosting some of the greatest German performers and composers of classical and jazz music, and bring together eminent scientists, thinkers, artists, filmmakers and writers, who will share their vision on Germany with each other and with us.