News
Germany Announces Plan to Return Benin Bronzes to Nigeria
The Edo Museum of West African Art in Benin City is being considered as a future home for the returned artifacts.
Germany
Art
A Fragrance Bottles Up the Everyday Scents of Former East Germany
Notes of mold and tobacco hit quickly, with raspberry candies cutting through the musk, personifying the feeling of “bittersweet.”
News
Path Toward Restitution of Benin Bronzes Advances in Germany and UK
Thousands of objects were looted from present-day Nigeria by British troops in a punitive mission in 1897.
News
Nazi-looted Watercolor by Egon Schiele, Belonging to Artist's Dentist, Will Be Returned to Heirs
Germany’s advisory commission on Nazi-looted art also recommended the return of a painting by Erich Heckel to the heirs of Jewish journalist Max Fischer.
News
Artists and Cultural Workers Oppose Humboldt Forum Opening, Citing Colonial Ties
The protesters called to redirect government funding of the Humboldt Forum towards cultural decolonization initiatives.
News
A Surrealist Yves Tanguy Painting Was Tossed in Trash at a German Airport
The painting, worth an estimated $340,000, was left behind by a traveler at Düsseldorf Airport and scrapped by a cleaning crew.
Art
Hito Steyerl Brings Us Late Night Public Access Weirdness
4 Nights at the Museum, a “weird-ass visual podcast,” is a good example of responsive curating amid the pandemic.
Art
“Bad Beuys”: Artists “Steal” a Joseph Beuys as a Statement About Repatriation
How better to illustrate the inadequacy of current restitution efforts than to offer up as tribute an object by one of Germany’s most famous artists, who thought art could bring about transformative social change?
In Brief
Berlin’s Madame Tussauds Dumps Trump Wax Figure Ahead of Election Day
The museum rolled its Trump lookalike off the premises in a dumpster.
Art
A Scuffle Over Anti-Fascist Art in a German Museum, Explained
Following their creation of an anti-fascist art installation for a show at Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, the artist-activist group Peng! Collective found themselves at the center of a perhaps inevitable brouhaha.
Art
Why the Bauhaus Still Matters in an Era of Neo-Nationalism
A look back at all the questions, contradictions, omissions, and elisions of last year's bauhaus imaginista exhibition reveals that it was a show about contemporary Germany as a country as much as it is about whatever we are calling “the Bauhaus.”
In Brief
A Ceremonial Chord Change for John Cage's 639-year-long Concert
An organ recital of a piece by the composer began in 2001 and will run until 2640. This weekend, listeners gathered to hear its 14th chord change.