Priya Basil: Locked In and Out
{{ time.start_TS | TS2dateFormat('MMM') }}
{{ time.start_TS | TS2dateFormat('YYYY') }}
| 8 € |
| Now available in the Humboldt Forum shop and soon to be ordered online |
| English, German |
| Part of: Objects talk back |
Few buildings are as controversial as the new Berlin Palace, which now houses the Humboldt Forum. In Germany and beyond, people wonder why an imperial palace was rebuilt in the centre of Berlin and then filled with the often violently acquired ethnological collections of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
The writer Priya Basil unfurls the story of the palace reconstruction alongside a personal story of her migrating to Berlin. She questions what such a building means for our understanding of the past and our sense of belonging in the present. “In German the word Schloss means a palace, and also a ‘lock.’ The central question: Can a lock also be a key?“
Published by Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss
Diaphanes, Paperback, 48 pages, 11 x 17 cm, ISBN 978-3-0358-0752-3
The Humboldt Forum was established in 2002 by a resolution of the German Bundestag. Four partner institutions are responsible for its programming: the Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss; the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz with the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; the Stadtmuseum Berlin; and Humboldt University. Additionally, it fosters collaborations with Berlin communities and global partners on an equal basis. Since its opening in summer 2021, the Humboldt Forum has become a vibrant hub for intercultural dialogue and engagement with global issues.
Priya Basil is a writer and curator of the project Objects Talk Back. Her published work includes novels, nonfiction, essays, plays and short stories. In her book, Be My Guest, she combines her Indian-Kenyan-British-German heritage with philosophy, food and politics to make a passionate plea for hospitality in its broadest sense. She is co-founder and board member of WIR MACHEN DAS, an NGO that works with refugees and migrants for a more inclusive society. She is also on the advisory board of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).