Traces of Memory: Fragile Archives between Windhoek and Berlin

How do archives connect the past to the present? What role do digital technologies, international cooperation and collaborative research processes play in this? An evening event in the Gropius Bau curated by Kulturprojekte Berlin will explore these questions and themes. The event will start with a discussion of current projects and future plans related to digital archive work between Dr Yvette Mutumba from Contemporary And (C&) and Gita Herrmann from TheMuseumsLab. Important topics that will be addressed are access to resources and sustainable forms of international collaboration with the African continent. 

Another project that addresses these questions will be presented by Prof Eyal Weizman: the exhibition “Re-Tracing the Genocide with Nama and Ovaherero Descendants”, which took place in the National Art Gallery of Namibia in 2025. The presentation will outline the results of a collaboration between the interdisciplinary research agency Forensic Architecture and the Ovaherero and Nama communities over several years which gives visibility to the traces of the German colonial genocide in landscapes, materials and memories. This will be followed by a conversation between the artist Hildegard Titus and Mark Mushiva and Agata Nguyen Choung of Forensic Architecture, as well as a film screening of “Shark Island” (Forensic Architecture). Conversation and film both ask to what extent collaborative research processes contribute to a remembrance culture that involves critical reflection and can create spaces for acknowledgement, responsibility and public visibility. 

Finally, Rudolf Netzelmann from the non-profit cultural association urban dialogues berlin will discuss transnational processes in archival work with the artist Laura Horelli and Ndamian Hangula from the National Archives of Namibia. They will focus on the question of how historical film material can be both worked with artistically and used for educational purposes appropriate for target groups in Namibian-German cooperative projects.  

Timetable:

6:00pm – TheMuseumsLab meets Contemporary And (C&)

7:15pm – Forensic Architecture presents: Film screening “Shark Island” & panel discussion

9:00pm – urban dialogues berlin meets National Archives of Namibia 

With: Agata Nguyen Chuong (Forensic Architecture), Ndamian Hangula (National Archives of Namibia), Laura Horelli (artist), Gita Herrmann (TheMuseumsLab), Mark Mushiva (Forensic Architecture), Dr Yvette Mutumba (Contemporary And (C&)) Rudolf Netzelmann (urban dialogues berlin), Hildegard Titus (Activist and Artist) and Prof Eyal Weizman (Forensic Architecture)  

To the biographies of the speakers: Link

Moderator: Celia Parbey (journalist and managing director of RosaMAG) 

Participation in the event is free of charge. Registration is not required.