BERLIN.- Public discourse and politics are increasingly characterized by fears—with Germany being one of the starkest examples of this. Fears that stem from a narrow, often hegemonic, and at the same time localized view of the world. As such, the exhibition Musafiri: Of Travellers and Guests constitutes an urgent plea to acknowledge and assert the polyphonic worlds brought together by the experience of those who have moved past their points of origin.
The Arabic word musafir resonates with stunning phonetic consistency across languages and within strikingly different cultural spaces, from Romanian to Turkish, Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, Swahili, Kazakh, Malay and Uygur, among others, in a vast, uninterrupted geography. While the original meaning and in most of these languages the word denotes that of a “traveller,” in Turkish and Romanian it has come to designate a “guest,” a position that is special and most welcomed. The exhibition follows worlds as they have been braided by intrepid travellers and unwillingly displaced individuals and communities in history, to the intensifying migratory movements of today. Musafiri: Of Travellers and Guests speaks of the necessity of a society in which travellers can arrive and be welcomed as guests.
A group exhibition with over 40 positions. An expansive cultural education programme of tours, workshops, and conversational formats accompanies the Musafiri programme throughout the duration of the exhibition.
With contributions by: Ulf Aminde, Alibay Bapanov, Sonia E. Barrett, Aslı Çavuşoğlu, Musquiqui Chihying, Narcisa Chindoy, Julien Creuzet, Ena de Silva, Roy Dib, Bekhbaatar Enkhtur, Aboubakar Fofana, Simryn Gill, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Hit Man Gurung and Sheelasha Rajbhandari, Yun-Fei Ji, Choy Ka Fai, Sachiko Koshikoku & Akinori Nakatani & Massao Okinaka & Yuji Tamaki (konzipiert und zusammengestellt von Yudi Rafael), Lawrence Lemaoana, Idas Losin, Ana Lupas, Gail Mabo, Maria Madeira, Mohammad Din Mohammad, Carlos “Marilyn” Monroy, Diane Severin Nguyen, Haji Noor Din, Jimmy Ong, Anne Samat, Citra Sasmita, Joar Songcuya, Simon Soon, Nádia Taquary, Robel Temesgen, Ryan Villamael, Ocean Vuong, Razakaratrimo Zoarinivo (known as Madame Zo)
