Public discourse and politics are increasingly characterised by fears—withGermany being one of the starkest examples of this. Fears that stem froma narrow, often hegemonic and at the same time localised view of theworld. As such, the exhibition Musafiri: Of Travellers and Guests constitutesan urgent plea to acknowledge and assert the polyphonic worlds broughttogether by the experience of those who have moved past their points oforigin.
The Arabic word musafir resonates with stunning phonetic consistencyacross languages and within strikingly different cultural spaces, fromRomanian to Turkish, Farsi, Urdu, Hindi, Swahili, Kazakh, Malay andUygur, among others, in a vast, uninterrupted geography. While the originalmeaning and in most of these languages the word denotes that of a‘traveller’, in Turkish and Romanian it has come to designate a ‘guest’, aposition that is special and most welcomed. The exhibition follows worldsas they have been braided by intrepid travellers and unwillingly displacedindividuals and communities in history, to the intensifying migratorymovements of today. Musafiri: Of Travellers and Guests speaks of the
necessity of a society in which travellers can arrive and be welcomed asguests.
Musafiri is a group exhibition with over 40 positions. An expansive culturaleducation programme of tours, workshops and conversational formatsaccompanies the Musafiri programme throughout the duration of theexhibition.
With contributions by: Ulf Aminde, Alibay Bapanov, Sonia E. Barrett, AslıÇavuşoğlu, Musquiqui Chihying, Narcisa Chindoy, Chong Yan Chuah,Choy Ka Fai, Julien Creuzet, Ena de Silva, Roy Dib, Bekhbaatar Enkhtur,Aboubakar Fofana, Simryn Gill, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Hit Man Gurungand Sheelasha Rajbhandari, Yun-Fei Ji, Sachiko Koshikoku & AkinoriNakatani & Massao Okinaka & Yuji Tamaki (conceived and assembled byYudi Rafael), Lawrence Lemaoana, Idas Losin, Ana Lupas, Gail Mabo,Maria Madeira, Mohammad Din Mohammad, Carlos ‘Marilyn’Monroy, Diane Severin Nguyen, Haji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang, JimmyOng, Zoarinivo Razakaratrimo (known as Madame Zo), Anne Samat, CitraSasmita, Joar Songcuya, Simon Soon, Nádia Taquary, Robel Temesgen,Ryan Villamael, Ocean Vuong
Press release from Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Image: Aslı Çavuşoğlu. the book the story of Agathange, a vision from St Gregory the Enlightened. 2015. Image courtesy of collection LAURASAR
