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17/5/2010

Vodou

Museen Dahlem, Berlin

Presenting about 350 objects for the first time, this exhibition gives a comprehensive insight into the world of vodou. The focus is on the Bizango, a vodou secret society whose objects were only to be seen by initiated members in Haiti, and thus hitherto concealed from any broader public.

The objects shown represent a selection from the collection compiled by Swiss-born Marianne Lehmann in Port-au-Prince in the course of the past thirty years. Her collection comprises about 3,000 vodou items. On 12 January 2010, Haiti was shaken by a devastating earthquake. The situation for the Haitian people is still disastrous. Despite being poorly sheltered, the Lehmann collection survived the quake largely without damage. It is planned to donate part of the entrance fees in support of the building of a cultural centre in Haiti, which is intended to become the new depository of the Lehmann collection.

The expression 'vodou' is understood as those religious practices, which are widespread in West Africa and were brought to America by African slaves. These practices form the basis of Afro-American religions, which were influenced by elements of Catholicism and indigenous beliefs. They include Candomblé in Brazil, the María-Lionza religion in Venezuela, Santería on Cuba, voodoo in the United States, and vodou on Haiti. The word 'vodou' derives from the Fon language in Benin and Nigeria and is equivalent to 'god', 'spirit' or 'sacred object'.

Some 80% of the ca. 8.5 million inhabitants of Haiti are members of the Catholic Church, while at the same time up to 90% believe in vodou gods and spirits, who are called "loa” (Creole: lwa). There are diverse forms of vodou in the different regions of Haiti, as its followers place importance upon very different elements, which are moreover constantly augmented by new features. Vodou is omnipresent in everyday life, in music and dance, in rituals and symbols.

Presented by:
Ethnological Museum Musée d'Ethnographie, Genf

The JuniorMuseum with the exhibition "Off through the desert!" for children between the age of five and twelve is also located at the Dahlem Museums. Due to renovations, the exhibition rooms of the JuniorMuseum are closed to the public from 20 April 2009.

Until Sun 22 August 2010
A Fresh Look at Chinese Landscapes
Even by the 19th century, the art of Chinese landscape painting was able to look back on a tradition that was already over a thousand years old. At the turn of the 20th century, several factors contributed to a crisis in Chinese painting, including: the intransigent nature of certain conventions, radical changes in society and the increasing influence of the West.
This temporary exhibition proudly presents works, mostly created since the 1960s, by several artists with widely differing styles. The obligatory literary landscape, as dictated by the genre's classical model, is a standard feature in the works, as is the use of abstract structures in rendering the unfolding landscape. Contemporary approaches also form part of the exhibition: as in Xu Bing's (born 1955) 'Landscripts', which is entirely composed of characters, as well as the loan of a 'digital Chinese ink painting' installed as a horizontal scroll, depicting an urban landscape by Miao Xiaochun (born 1964).

Image: Bouwo Bizango (Bizango-Scharfrichter), gefüllter Stoff, Spiegel, Schnur, Knochen, H: 101 cm © Sammlung Marianne Lehmann, FPVPOCH, Foto: Johnathan Watts, MEG

Museen Dahlem
Lansstraße 8 - 14195 Berlin
Opening Hours
Mon closed
Tue 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Wed 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Thu 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Fri 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sat 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Sun 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

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