Prof. Dr. Viola König
Freie Universität Berlin
ZI Lateinamerika-Institut
Honorarprofessorin
Altamerikanistik / Kulturanthropologie, Museum / Provenienzforschung
Adresse:
Rüdesheimer Str. 54-56
14197 Berlin
E-post:
vkoenig@zedat.fu-berlin.de
Hjemmeside:
klikk her
Utvalgte arbeider
Germans in the North Pacific: Contributions to the Discovery and Exploration before 1867. A Publishing Project
«Two men are credited with the discovery of the Americas: Christopher Columbus as the first European to touch American soil on the Caribbean Islands in 1492, and the German scholar Alexander von Humboldt as the Scientific Discoverer of America. Both claims suppress the two facts that the Norse Leif Erikson (about 970-1020) arrived at Vinland, or Newfoundland on the North Eastern corner of North America 500 years prior to Columbus, while the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709-1746) sailing with Vitus Bering’s Second Kamchatka Expedition, also called the “Great Northern Expedition” (1733–1743), was the first European to touch North America’s soil on Kayak Island, Alaska on July 20, 1741 (Steller 1793).»
«Compensating for War Losses and Closing Gaps in the Collection». The Acquisitions on the Art Market for the Mesoamerican collection at the Ethnological Museum in
Taking the important and extensive Mesoamerican collection of the Ethnologisches Museum (Ethnological Museum) in Berlin as an example, the following article explores the background and motivation for purchases of collections on the art market in the twentieth century. Among the entire holdings of the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin (EM)-founded in 1873 as the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde (Royal Museum for Ethnology)-almost 200,000 objects from pre-Columbian America account for nearly two thirds. Accordingly, the collection’s provenance is heterogeneous. Until World War II, they were mostly the result of collecting trips, expeditions and field research organized by the museum itself. More recently, a group of objects considered to be problematic from today’s perspective was purchased from the art trade, with provenance histories in Mexico and Central America that are no longer traceable. Following the significant losses sustained in two world wars, «Compensating for War Losses and Closing Gaps in the Collection».
Under the shadow of the Christian cross: Twenty years of planning and curating the controversial Humboldt Forum in Berlin
«A critical look at the Humboldt Forum from the perspective of a contemporary witness involved in its planning stages from the very beginning until 2017. The last book chapter analyises the result and shows the discrepancy between claim and reality. For the first time, the whole process is described in detail by a participant from a personal perspective.
Bokutgivelse, og innholdsfortegnelse er tilgjengelig her (pdf)
Leitende Frauen in Ethnologischen Museen – Zwischen Erwartungen und Erfolg, Frustration und Hoffnung
«Mit Brigitte Templin wurde im Februar 2018 die Leiterin einer ethnographischen Sammlung nach zwanzigjähriger Amtszeit ‚normal’ in den Ruhestand verabschiedet. Mit ‚normal’ ist die Verabschiedung aufgrund des Erreichens der gesetzlich vorgeschriebenen Altersgrenze gemeint. Diese war für einige Kolleginnen im deutsch-sprachigen Raum keineswegs selbstverständlich, wie folgend dokumentiert.»
A German Mexican cooperation project
«Die Deutsch-Mexikanische Co-Edition einer Faksimile Ausgabe der indianischen Bil- derhandschrift “Codex Humboldt Fragment 1 (Ms amer. 2/ Codex Azoyú 2) Reverso” (AZ2R-HF1) durch das “Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropolo- gía Social” (CIESAS) und die Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK).»
Drei Dekaden Digitalisierung und virtuelles Experimentieren mit ethnographischen Sammlungen
«Als in den USA ab den 1960ern mit der Anwendung elektronischer Datenverarbei- tung zunächst in wenigen großen Museen begonnen wurde, war man in Deutsch- lands Museen noch weit davon entfernt, dies ernsthaft in Betracht zu ziehen.»
Renaming ethnographic museums. Implications and strategies for the presentation of the collections: the example of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin
«The summer of 2015 was the perfect moment for organizing the Conference Museum of Cultures, Wereldmuseum, Världskulturmuseet … What else? – Positioning Ethnological Museums in the 21st Century, to “discuss the need for a critical appraisal of the past, present, and future of ethnological museums”. Indeed, in planning the new exhibitions for the Humboldt Forum in the centre of Berlin and in a rebuilt Prussian palace, the staff of the Ethnologisches Museum finds itself under close observation, sometimes even attacked at the stage of an as yet empty palace.»
The Pictorial History of Power, Rule, and Land on Lienzo Seler II
«While the content documented on Lienzo Seler II reaches back to the twelfth century and thus to the pre-Hispanic era, the lienzo was not made before the second half of the sixteenth century, that is, in early colonial times.»
Kapitän Jacobsen an der Nordwestküste Amerikas
Viola König und Monika Zessnik
«Der Bericht von Johan Adrian Jacobsen, welcher Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts die amerikanische Nordwestküste und Alaska bereiste, stellt ein eindrückliches Zeitdokument dar. Als solches wird es Thema eines Ausstellungsmodules im künftigen HumboldtForum sein und stand jetzt im Zentrum eines Projektes des Humboldt Lab Dahlem.»
A Summary: Lienzo Seler II’s Structure, Content, and Relation to Other Pictorial Documents, and a Tentative Reconstruction of a “Codex Coixtlahuaca”
«In this concluding chapter of the present volume on Lienzo Seler II I return to the point of departure of my initial research (König 1984, 1999), that is, the structure of the document and the questions arising from that structure: how are the entries of the authors involved in the making of the lienzo to be interpreted? What were their intentions? In former publications I have used the term “contributions” to refer to the various units of which the lienzo is composed.»
Viola König on Humboldt Forum. Museums turned into petitioners.
«Viola König zum Humboldt-Forum Die Museen sind heute nur noch Bittsteller.»
Multidisciplinary Fieldwork in Oaxaca
«In Oaxaca, interdisciplinary field research has a long tradition. Since the arrival of the Spaniards, such different groups as Christian missionaries, local teachers, and doctors, as well as collectors and antiquarians, conducted “fieldwork” in some way or another, as did the early ‘idol hunters’ sent out by Carl Uhde in the 1820s.»
Benin Collections Ethnologisches Museum
Using Nineteenth-Century Data in Contemporary Archaeological Studies: The View from Oaxaca and Germany
«The purpose of this chapter is to call attention to, and suggest ways of analyzing, a wide range of multimedia artifacts generated by nineteenth-century travelers and collectors that today constitutes a rich source of information on Oaxaca’s archaeo-logical past. e record is fragmentary, but when stitched together it composes a kind of multidimensional scrapbook that can be used to reconstruct early excava-tions, archaeological collections, and object provenience, as well as function as a unique look into the mindset of our intellectual predecessors.»
Viola König Publications 2020
- Monographs
- Mesoamerica and Pre-Columbian Studies
- Northamerica
- Museum
- Exhibitions
»Eine Geschichte – Zwei Perspektiven«
Ein Forschungsprojekt zu kulturspezifischen Übersetzungsfunktionen des »exotisch Fremden« am Beispiel der pazifischen Nordwestküste.
«Captain Jacobsen at the Northwest Coast of America. His Travelogue read from different Perspectives.» Kapitän Jacobsen an der Nordwestküste Amerikas. Ein Reisebericht aus verschiedenen Perspektiven.
Viola König & Monika Zessnik
Geschichte soll nicht nur gelesen, sie muss erzählt werden. Der Bericht Johan Adrian Jacobsens, der Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts die amerikanische Nordwestküste und Alaska bereiste, bietet ein eindrückliches Zeitdokument, das als Vorlage für das Projekt „Reisebericht“ im Humboldt Lab Dahlem diente.
The Mesoamerica exhibitions in the future Humboldt Forum in the center of Berlin
The Ethnologisches Museum Berlin, Germany will move into a new building called Humboldt Forum in the centerof Berlin. The opening is scheduled 2019. The concept and planning for the new exhibition of the collections from Meosamerica will be presented and discussed.
Renaming ethnographic museums. Implications and strategies for the presentation of the collections: the example of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin
Renaming ethnographic museums. Implications and strategies for the presentation of the collections: the example of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin sider the implications of these renamings. What are the intended impacts for the public, the visitors, the scholars and ourselves as curators? I will then introduce some of the guidelines developed for the exhibition concept in the Humboldt Forum and explain how we try to continuously update them on our way through the long construction process.
Adrian Jacobsen’s Dena’ina Collection in the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin
Åtteogtyve objekter i samlingen Dena’inaq’ Huch’ulyeshi i det kommer fra det etnologiske museet i Berlin. Alle er samlet inn av Johan Adrian Jacobsen i Alaska i 1883.
Concept for the Presentation of the Non-European Collections in the Humboldt- Forum Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst (2nd edition)
The Humboldt-Forum, one of the most ambitious cultural building projects in Germany, will contribute to the redesign of urban development in the heart of the Spree island, and foster the “dialogue between art and scholarship” by means of its cultural program, which is also oriented towards the future.
Using nineteenth-Century data in Contemporary archaeological studies
Viola König & Adam T. Sellen
When we think about museum collections from Mesoamerica, especially those that are now part of institutions in Europe and in North America, an image of glass cases and dusty storerooms comes to mind, full to the brim with three-dimensional objects—most notably ceramics—that were excavated long ago by individuals who had little regard for the rigors of current archaeological practice.
Multidisciplinary fieldwork in oaxaca
On May 17, 2008, our colleague Bruce Byland, an archaeologist and specialist in the Mixtec culture of Oaxaca, passed away. I am grateful that the editors promptly accepted my suggestion to dedicate this volume to Bruce. He had been an active representative in the “second generation” of the “Mixtec Codex Group” or “Mixtec Gang,” as they called themselves, centered initially around the art historians Nancy Troike, Mary Elizabeth Smith, and Emily Rabin, and the journalist Ross Parmenter.
Leitende Frauen in Ethnologischen Museen – Zwischen Erwartungen und Erfolg, Frustration und Hoffnung
Mit Brigitte Templin wurde im Februar 2018 die Leiterin einer ethnographischen Sammlung nach zwanzigjähriger Amtszeit ‚normal’ in den Ruhestand verabschiedet. Mit ‚normal’ ist die Verabschiedung aufgrund des Erreichens der gesetzlich vorge- schriebenen Altersgrenze gemeint. Diese war für einige Kolleginnen im deutsch- sprachigen Raum keineswegs selbstverständlich, wie folgend dokumentiert.
Aurel Krause, Die Tlingit Indianer. Reprint. Einleitung (Introduction) of Ergebnisse einer Reise nach der Nordwestküste von Amerika und der Beringstraße ausgeführt im Auftrag der Bremer Geographischen Gesellschaft in den Jahren 1880-1881. durch die Doctoren Arthur und Aurel Krause.
The brothers Aurel Krause (1848-1908) and Arthur Krause (1851-1920) were born in the Schwetz region of West Prussia and both studied natural sciences in Berlin, where they also obtained permanent teaching posts. Well-trained by their travels throughout Europe and experienced in scientific study, they appeared to the se¬lection committee of the “Geographical Society of Bremen” (the former “Association for North Polar Travel”) to be ideal candidates to undertake a scientific and ethnological research and collecting journey to the coastal regions of the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea, in particular the Chukchi Peninsula and those parts of Alaska which had then been very little explored scientifically or ethnographically.
Worlds in Motion: The Ethnologisches Museum at the Humboldt-Forum
Expectations on the contents of the Humboldt-Forum are high. The reconstructed Berliner Schloss (Berlin Palace) should not simply house a single museum made up of two of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin). In conjunction with events and special exhibitions on the ground floor areas, library holdings from the Zentral- und Landesbibiliothek Berlin (Central and Regional Library Berlin) as well as from the museums themselves and from the Humboldt-Labor (Humboldt Laboratory) of Humboldt-Univer- sität zu Berlin (Humboldt University of Berlin), the collections of the museums at the Berliner Schloss will enter into an open-minded dialogue with the cultures of the world, thus establishing a forum that is truly novel: the Humboldt-Forum.
Adolf Bastian and the Sequel: Five Companions and Successors as Collectors for Berlin’s Royal Museum of Ethnology
In the following contribution attention is focused upon five outstanding contemporaries of Adolf Bastian: pupils, co-workers, colleagues and delegates. It views the collecting activities and bequests that Bastian personally stimulated, instigated and sometimes even provided financial means for during his life. Contemplated here are the activities whose traces can still be found today, not only in the Ethnological Museum in Berlin but far beyond in the world abroad. Drawing upon the rather diverse biographies of the different collectors as example, the course of achieving and the reasons for the acquisition of the most important collections in the Museum will be examined, which in spite of their great diversity all display one common feature, namely in the criteria mass and class, that is, quantity and quality.