THE TRUE SIZE OF AFRICA

Although we all have our origins in Africa and Egyptian culture still shapes us today, while the Roman Empire’s granaries were in North Africa and powerful African kingdoms flourished during the Middle Ages, Africa has been portrayed on world maps since the days of Mercator as smaller than its actual size and the continent continues to be underestimated in both its geographic scope and its significance for world history, despite its prehis-torical role as the birthplace of humankind. THE TRUE SIZE OF AFRICA signifies all of this, in addition to the global reach of the African diaspora, wrought by the transatlantic slave trade and the forced displacement of African people worldwide, with lasting impacts to this day.

Exactly 140 years ago, in November 1884, the Congo Conference was opened in Berlin, which divided up Africa among the colonial powers without any African participation: Reason enough to take a different look in 2024 at this huge continent and the people who come from it. THE TRUE SIZE OF AFRICA tests approaches that identify traditions of thought, prejudices and stereotypes and enable new perspectives — by means of cultural history and contemporary art, through constant changes of perspective and artistic polyphony. "We want to be an eye-opener, not just a feast for the eyes. We want to move and inspire in equal measure," says Dr Ralf Beil, General Director of the World Heritage Völklinger Hütte and curator of the exhibition.

While a MUSEUM OF MEMORABILITY reflects on Africa's past and present from the perspective of colonial Europe, African sculptures and objects from private collections in Saarland enter into a dialogue with the machines and flywheels of the historic blower hall. "The central idea of this exhibition structure is a methodical reversal of perspective. Industrial modernity, which has repeatedly darkened Europe, meets a multifaceted, illuminating African culture," says curator Dr Ralf Beil.

Major artworks from recent decades are paired with numerous sound and spatial installations realised especially for the show by artists from Africa and the global diaspora, all making THE TRUE SIZE OF AFRICA tangible. For the first time, this exhibition route, reflecting the vastness of the sub-ject, extends from the Pump house through the Blower hall, the Compressor hall, and the Sintering plant, all the way to the Ore shed.

The invited artists include Dele Adeyemo (Kaduna, Nigeria / London, England / Lagos, Nigeria), John Akomfrah (Accra, Ghana / London, England), James Gregory Atkinson (Frankfurt, Germany / Seattle, USA), Sammy Baloji (Lubumbashi, RD Congo / Brussels, Belgium), Arébénor Basséne (Dakar, Senegal), Memory Biwa (Windhoek, Namibia), María Magdalena Campos-Pons (Matanzas, Cuba / Nashville, USA), CATPC (Lusanga, DR Congo), Omar Victor Diop (Dakar, Senegal / Paris, France), Sokari Douglas Camp (Buguma, Nigeria / London, England), William Kentridge (Johannesburg, South Africa), Kongo Astronauts (Kinshasa, DR Congo), Susana Pilar Delahante Matienzo (Havana, Cuba / Enschede, Netherlands), Roméo Mivekannin (Bouaké, Ivory Coast / Toulouse, France), Zanele Muholi (Kapstadt, South Africa / Umlazi, South Africa), Josèfa Ntjam (Metz, France), Kaloki Nyamai (Nairobi, Kenya), Emeka Ogboh (Lagos, Nigeria / Berlin, Germany), Zineb Sedira (Algiers, Algeria / Paris, France / London, England), Sandra Seghir (Lomé, Togo / Dakar, Senegal), Yinka Shonibare (London, England), The Singh Twins (Richmond, England), Géraldine Tobe (Kinshasa, DR Congo), Kara Walker (New York, USA) and Carrie Mae Weems (Syracuse, USA).

In cooperation with the Käte Hamburger Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation CURE at Saarland University