Hundreds of cultural objects from Tanzania have been stored in Stade for over 100 years. Why did they go unnoticed for so long? And how did they get to Stade?
With the exhibition AMANI kukita | kung'oa (planted | uprooted). German and Tanzanian perspectives on a colonial collection in Stade, the Stade Museums present for the first time the results, processes and reflections of a three-year research project carried out in cooperation with the Tanzanian National Institute for Medical Research. The project examined Tanzanian cultural assets acquired by the botanist Karl Braun during his work for the Amani Botanical Research Institute in the former colony of "German East Africa". From 1921, Karl Braun headed the Reich Biological Institute for Agriculture and Forestry in Stade and handed over the collection to the town shortly before his death.
Tools, instruments, textiles as well as photographs, maps and documents tell of the colonial occupation, the exploitation of people and plant resources and the appropriation of cultural heritage. The exhibition offers the German-Tanzanian research team a platform to present and critically reflect on their own research practice - and at the same time invites you as a museum visitor to question it too.
Artistic works by Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Rehema Chachage and Yvette Kießling open up new perspectives on the intertwining of German colonial history, cultural appropriation and research, in which the city of Stade and its citizens are also closely involved.
The exhibition takes place at Museum Schwedenspeicher and Kunsthaus Stade.
February 15 to June 9, 2025
