WEBVTT - generated by Videoportal Universität Freiburg 1 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:29.280 The restitution question is not new. In 1872 already, the King of Ethiopia reclaimed from England 2 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:38.359 a number of religious artefacts which had been taken. In 1872, can you imagine? The problem 3 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:48.000 lies in the attitude with which Europe reacted to such demands, as it never listened carefully to those claims. 4 00:00:48.000 --> 00:01:01.000 As we now live in a world of knowledge, I believe that we have reached a time that requires a paradigm shift. 5 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:07.000 Knowledge flows easily with new technologies. Nothing can remain hidden anymore. 6 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:14.000 And in this regard, we need to carry out an own self-examination. What does a paradigm shift imply? 7 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:21.000 It means to rethink the national paradigm that was created in the nineteenth century 8 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:32.000 with all its disciplinary architecture, which sings the praises of “here” and disparages the “over there”. 9 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:40.000 It is therefore necessary to find room for a paradigm that would lie in between. 10 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:49.000 It is to say that “here” surely is here as we envisage ”over there”. However, 11 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:57.000 one still can see the world as a place where one would not necessarily say “us and them” but “us in the world”. 12 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:02.000 That would amount to a paradigm shift. “Us in the world” means that one does no longer define oneself 13 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:08.000 as the centre or define a centre at all. And there is no possible contradiction to this. 14 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:13.000 And here lies a challenge, as it means that one needs to rethink existing asymmetries. 15 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:21.000 As Europeans, you fear for your identity and therefore you are scared of otherness. 16 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:25.000 However, it is about getting enriched by otherness. We should nourish ourselves with otherness, 17 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:33.000 and see this neither as a means of provocation nor of denaturalization, but as enriching. 18 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:39.000 This is what I call the culture of the universal that will govern our practices. 19 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:48.000 Whether we want it or not, mobility exists and we will never be able to stop it. Human beings are no artefacts. 20 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:56.000 They are human beings because we see in them a shared humanity and as they possess the capacity to think 21 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:06.000 and analyse. It is time to take the bull by the horns instead of further pursuing a policy 22 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:10.000 of burying one’s head in the sand since this strategy is by now familiar to everyone. 23 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:17.000 And I am telling you, nothing will manage to break the conviction of a people that is awake. 24 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:24.000 It can take all the time it will take but once one is awake, one is awake for good. 25 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:32.000 Europe saw itself as the world’s navel for a long time but we have now reached a time 26 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:34.000 when Europe is not anymore the only one who is holding the microphone. 27 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:45.000 A number of microphones do exist and it is now time to move from a culture of teaching to a culture of learning. 28 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:53.000 In didactics, Germans talk about « Lernkulturen » or « Lehrkulturen ». 29 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:06.000 Europe needs to move from a teaching culture to a learning culture. And there is no way around it. 30 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:25.000 The artefacts that have been taken to Germany left a void, an absence in their countries of origin, 31 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:36.000 in their communities of origin. These artefacts have been twice absent in their host country, 32 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:45.000 as some of them could not be identified and were thus left in the storerooms until today. 33 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:53.000 A lot of those artefacts have faced such fate. It was therefore a twofold absence, 34 00:04:53.000 --> 00:05:02.000 as having left Cameroon, they still could have been present in Germany and benefit there from another life. 35 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:21.000 I have worked on a sculpture which is a pillar of a sacred hut. It is called the « Blaue-Reiter-Pfosten ». 36 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:26.000 It has been renamed in Germany, in its new life. It has been given a new identity and 37 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:31.000 became a fetish artefact of the museum « Fünf Kontinente ». 38 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:45.000 This is simply due to the fact that the prominent Bavarian painter Franz Marc and his friend Kandinsky 39 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:53.000 were able to take a photograph of this artefact and used it as an illustration for their « Almanach ». 40 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.000 As you can notice there is consequently an added value to this artefact. 41 00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:01.000 A lot of people travel to Munich as they want to admire the « Blaue-Reiter-Pfosten ». 42 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:09.000 Now, if the « Blaue-Reiter-Pfosten » would be to return to Cameroon, it would become a trophy, 43 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:17.000 it would be our trophy, it is to say like our cup. The « Blaue-Reiter-Pfosten » travelled to Germany, 44 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:25.000 led a battle with other art artefacts on the art market and in the field of art criticism. 45 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.000 The « Blaue-Reiter-Pfosten » then came back home with further value. 46 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:42.000 So, beyond the fact that this pillar tells the story of the community or of the house from which it has been taken, 47 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:50.000 it becomes now an international masterpiece and shall be kept in a safe place 48 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:55.000 in order to reinforce the Cameroonian cultural industry. 49 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:09.000 When we then tackle the topic of restitution, the underlying idea is not only to bring back artefacts to Cameroon. 50 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:15.000 Artefacts could also remain in Europe. However, the primary purpose of provenance research 51 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:21.000 is to clarify those artefacts’ record of ownership. To whom do those artefacts belong? 52 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:30.000 If they irrevocably belong to the legitimate communities of origin, then the issue can be easily settled. 53 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:39.000 One could decide on disposal or lease agreements or set up a royalty mechanism according to 54 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:47.000 what seems most appropriate. Regarding the artefacts that are most needed, such as artefacts of power or sacred items, 55 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:54.000 they could be sent back so as to reinforce the identity-attributing function 56 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:58.000 that they fulfilled 100 years before being taken. 57 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:17.000 Museums need to stop being a place where one establishes a hierarchy of the human species 58 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:24.000 starting from the bottom moving up to the third floor. Museums rather need to be considered 59 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:34.000 as providing a concentric space in which cultures can discuss, nurture each other, 60 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:46.000 create further values and engage in reciprocal relations so as to build together the humankind, 61 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:49.000 , the genuine humankind that does not amount to a reference 62 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:55.000 to a unique and particularistic humankind as the French portray it with the “Droits de l’homme”, 63 00:08:55.000 --> 00:09:06.000 but rather a humankind that comprises diversity, a humankind that consists of a diverse plurality. 64 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:11.000 it is another form of humankind that we are to create through all the discussions 65 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:18.000 which are currently taking place regarding restitutions. The goal is not to cause fear for the person 66 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:23.000 who possesses the artefacts even though those do not belong to him/her. 67 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:28.000 It is rather about making that person understand that the state of things has changed and thus cannot further fit 68 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:35.000 in the metanarrative s/he constructed and continues to want to maintain at all costs.