Invisible Inventories - the Zine! — International Inventories Programme

We are happy to announce that the catalogue of the project, in the form of a magazine, is just off the press!

Published in English and in German by iwalewabooks (Bayreuth/Johannesburg) and Kwani (Nairobi), the contributions from IIP members and Kenyan museum professionals and practitioners critically reflect museum and restitution politics but also the limits of the cooperation between African and Europeans museums. Besides conversations, essays and texts that accompany the artworks in the exhibition with the same title, the publication also contains a number of object biographies written by different authors that provide unique perspectives on the very same objects.

The zine supports the decolonising approach of the project by providing perspectives yet underrepresented in international discussions and aims to contribute to the debate on colonial histories that are inscribed in collections and museums.

Table of contents:

“Invisible Inventories” Questioning Kenyan Collections in Western Museums
An Introduction

"Invisible Inventories": A Collective Outlook The Nest Collective

A (Speculative) Plea for the Return of the Ngadji Jacky Kwonyike

Kanga, Wrap

Ndoome, 'Dance Shield'

Into the Museum Archive Leonie Chima Emeka and Niklas Obermann

Unearthing Kenya's Foundational Silences – London or Nairobi? Chao Tayiana Maina

A Topography of Loss Sam Hopkins and Simon Rittmeier

Museums for the People by the People. An interview with George Abungu Marian Nur Goni and Juma Ondeng'

Lightning Strikes the Obelisk Timeline Simon Rittmeier

How Can We Trust When Everything is a Mess? A Conversation Between Artist Collectives The Nest and SHIFT

Reaching for New Perspectives: A Dialogue between Museums
Leonie Neumann and Frauke Gathof (Weltkulturen Museum, Frankfurt am Main),
Clara Himmelheber (Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne) and Juma Ondeng' (National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi)

“The Process” SHIFT Collective

Coastal Heritage Research: A Report Philemon Nyamanga and Lydia Nafula

The Kili Heritage Resource Centre: Concept Note on an Adaptive Heritage Approach Philip Jimbi Katana

Adwel, Apron for Women Kondo, Headgear:

"Chief's Crown of the Kavirondo"

Simba Mbili: Potential Histories of the Man-Eaters of Tsavo Sam Hopkins and Marian Nur Goni

Museum Collections in Motion (Excerpt) Wandile Kasibe

Takeover / Wandile, My Mind and the Phonograph Simon Rittmeier

Who We Are

Power. Depots. Mobile. A greeting from the Kulturstiftung des Bundes