A colonial thing

5 December 2019 to 6 September 2020

The question of how ethnographic museums should deal with their colonial pasts has been discussed even among the general public in recent years. Guidelines and recommendations have been developed that take into account the following aspects: who needs to, should, or can restitute artefacts? To whom should material culture be returned?

Oracle bone devination apparatus © KHM-Museumsverband © KHM-Museumsverband

About the exhibition

The exhibition shows how these guidelines relate to twelve specific objects. This opens up a discursive space for visitors that reveals diverse and surprising facets to the question of the “colonial object” and its future. Simple answers are not to be expected, but all the more impulses for reflection and debate.

Daily (except Monday)
10 am to 6 pm
Tuesday
10 am to 9 pm

Weltmuseum Wien

Neue Hofburg, Heldenplatz
1010 Vienna, Austria