Although not always visible, the colonial past is omnipresent. This can also be said about the reverberations of colonialism that emanated from Germany into the world. Berlin wants to face its responsibility as a former colonial metropolis and capital of the German Reich. This is the reason why we have started the Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City in January 2020 as a cultural project to critically deal with the history of colonialism and its consequences.

The model project traces back to an initiative of four member organisations of the civic alliance Decolonize Berlin e.V. and the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. The Stadtmuseum Berlin Foundation could be attracted as a cooperation partner. The project is thus significantly upheld by stakeholders who for years have been committed to achieving a critical appraisal of colonialism by the city of Berlin.

Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City perceives colonialism as a system of injustice, which always met with resistance of the colonised people. The project picks up on the ever-louder demands for a consistent change of perspective in the post-colonial memory culture. Instead of colonial and colonial-racist stakeholders, from now on the victims and opponents of colonial racism and exploitation are to receive attention and appreciation.

Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City is pleased to announce the third open call for the Dekoloniale Berlin Residency 2023. We invite artists, architects, designers, directors, performers, fashion designers, writers, or urban practitioners to apply for a residency at Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City of Berlin. Applicants are invited to uncover and transform historical colonial stratifications and dominant narratives in Berlin's public space.

The theme of the collaborative exhibit 2023 »ZwischenWelten / BetweenWorlds« of the Dekoloniale exhibition team in collaboration with the district Museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in the Villa Oppenheim will also inform and inspire the interventions of the Dekoloniale artist residencies 2023:

ZwischenWelten / BetweenWorlds (working title)
Dekoloniale exhibition on anti-colonial networks in Berlin 1918 - 1933

The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 ended Germany's colonial rule in Africa, Asia and Oceania. In the Weimar Republic that followed, Berlin and Hamburg were able to develop into centers that were of global significance for anti-colonial discourse. Until the onset of National Socialist rule, significant migrant diasporic individuals and communities from the African, Asian, and Arab regions resided in Berlin. Coming from different colonial contexts, they became politically active, forming networks and alliances. They raised criticism of racist modes of representation, carried anti-colonial practices into the city, and from here made demands for national self-determination.