The Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation (CURE) was officially launched on Friday 8 November 2024, together with the opening for a new exhibition at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte. The centre, a flagship research institute at Saarland University supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), focuses on creating a transmedial framework for understanding processes of cultural reparation.
The launch of CURE coincided with the unveiling of the exhibition THE TRUE SIZE OF AFRICA, attended by roughly 680 invited guests. The evening opened with a video installation by the artist collective Kongo Astronauts exploring the exhibition site, along with a live percussion set by Pisko Crâne, one of its members, and performances of select works by musicians from Africa and its diaspora. Surrounded by the exhibition, Dr Ralf Beil, general director of the World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte, formally kicked off the event. Beil shared insights into the development of the exhibition, highlighting the cultural importance of the project created in partnership with CURE. He noted how this initiative makes a meaningful contribution towards reckoning with Germany’s colonial past—which has left its traces in Saarland, as elsewhere.
Dr Andreas Görgen, a senior official with the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, followed by underscoring the rich political and cultural ties between African nations and Germany. He placed special emphasis on the unique ways in which art creates an aesthetic experience. Saarland ministers Christine Streichert-Clivot and Jakob von Weizsäcker stressed the value of fostering culture and scholarship, noting that partnerships like the one between the World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte and the Käte Hamburger Centre are only possible because of such efforts.
CURE directors Prof. Dr Markus Messling and Prof. Dr Christiane Solte-Gresser outlined connections between the centre’s scholarly work and the exhibition’s content, also highlighting the contributions of CURE fellows and artists in residence. They underscored art’s function as a space for working through irreparable losses in which conflicting or overlapping experiences of harm can coexist. Their presentation focused on the critical role of cultural acts of reparation in a time of growing political division and threats to democracy.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr Souleymane Bachir Diagne, a Columbia University professor and member of CURE’s Academic Advisory Board. Diagne spoke about the essential movement of cultural objects from Africa, attributing to them a voice of their own. He gave the audience a compelling sense of how African philosophy sees art and life as fundamentally inseparable.
One part of the exhibition THE TRUE SIZE OF AFRICA, curated by Dr Ralf Beil, general director of the World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte, is a Museum of Memorability, which opens new historical perspectives in revisiting the relationship between Africa and Europe, spanning from humanity’s origins to the present, while celebrating Africa’s vast scale and significance across multiple dimensions. The exhibition’s centrepiece is a collection of works by acclaimed artists from Africa and its diaspora, including works created specifically for this exhibtion. These include paintings, soundscapes, video installations, and immersive environments by CURE artists such as Memory Biwa, Géraldine Tobe, and Zineb Sedira. Supported by the first CURE fellows and the centre’s academic staff, the exhibition will be open until 17 August 2025, at the World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte. A comprehensive catalogue in English will be published by Hirmer Verlag in February 2025, featuring richly illustrated essays by Ralf Beil, Elara Bertho, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Till Förster, Franck Hofmann, Nadia Yala Kisukidi, Markus Messling, and Christiane Solte-Gresser.
The event celebrated the launch of an interdisciplinary research institute devoted to academic excellence, uniting leading global scholars in cultural reparations research with the aim of addressing key social challenges for the future. The centre’s goal is to deepen understanding of both individual and collective processes of reparation in a globalised world, encouraging reflection on how to shape a future in which we and others can live together. Its research is devoted to memory cultures; politically significant historical discourses; personal experiences of harm and loss; and ecological issues.
Further press coverage of the opening:
Video segment: ARD – Wir im Saarland – Kultur am 13. November 2024
Interview: Saarbrücker Zeitung – Interview mit CURE Direktor:innen Markus Messling und Christiane Solte-Gresser vom 11. November 2024
Radio segment: Deutschlandfunk – “The True Size of Africa” – Ausstellung im Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte am 10. November 2024
