Photo: Hervé Youmbi. Courtesy of the artist and Axis Gallery, NY & NJ.
Twin masks, Douala-Bamiléké Nyatti-Ku’ngang Mask, at closing ceremony of funeral celebrations for the late father of His Majesty Gabriel Ndjiemeni, King of Fondanti, February 2020.
Zoom Registration is required for participation.
Event details
Within museums, restoration sometimes refers to the processes of conserving, repairing, and reconstructing artworks and artifacts to preserve their original state. This virtual symposium goes beyond the physical and aesthetic engagement of material culture. It proposes a community-centered approach to re-storation that embraces participation, revitalization, and healing. Speakers engaged with the re-storation of African heritage and culture will convene in two sessions, one conducted in English and the second in French, to discuss the establishment of inclusive, equitable, and critical museum practices today. This program is the inaugural event of the second edition of the Arts and (re)Creation from Africas to the World seminar series. Arts and (re)Creation from Africas to the World is a monthly interdisciplinary seminar series that runs from September 2024 to May 2025. This event is cosponsored by the Princeton University Art Museum, the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton, and the Africa World Initiative.
Panel 1: Re-storation and the Digital Humanities
Our first panel explores approaches and projects from the digital humanities that enhance community-centered knowledge production systems within European cultural institutions and seek to reconstruct, restore, rectify, and promote African identity, memory, and worldviews.
Introduced by Perrin Lathrop, assistant curator of African art, Princeton University Art Museum
Moderated in English by Anisa Tavangar, PhD student, Princeton University
Chao Tayianna, co-founder, Open Restitution, and founder, African Digital Heritage
Felicity Bodenstein, project lead, Digital Benin
Anthony Kalume-Dip, associate curator, Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft
Panel 2: Re-storation and Community
The second panel considers the impact of community contributions and collaboration on the development of inclusive and ethical museum practices and as a cornerstone to artistic production.
Introduced by Tiako Djomatchoua Murielle Sandra, PhD candidate, Department of French & Italian, Princeton University
Moderated in French by Rodrigue Nzelokuli, University of Kinshasa
Hugues Tchana Heumen, director, National Museum of Cameroon
Keita Daouda, director, National Museum of Mali
Herve Youmbi, international artist
Background details
The Arts and (Re)Creation from Africas to the World seminar series, launched by Tiako Djomatchoua Murielle Sandra during the academic year 2023-2024, aims to foster open and inclusive and interdisciplinary dialogues on African arts and traditions. The inaugural edition delved into a range of topics, including: the atlas of African arts; the patrimonialization of francophone African arts; reframing African Art and Global Museum Culture; zoomorphism and anthropomorphism in African arts; an African focus on the repatriation debate, material cultures and immaterial memories, African arts and the creative industries. Building on the success of the first edition, the second seminar series aims to continue these important conversations and expand our understanding of African arts and traditions and their global and innovative potentials and impact.
This event is cosponsored by the Princeton University Art Museum, the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton, and the Africa World Initiative.