What do we see in museums? In vitrines and behind barriers, objects appear, above all, static. Mirae kh Rhee explores how these objects arrived at their current locations. The artist questions who collects (or collected) what and why, and what messages are conveyed through the different kinds of collections. Through the movement of people, objects in collections often carry complex and turbulent histories - just like those who created, noticed, preserved, and passed them on.

Mirae kh Rhee is an interdisciplinary, research-based artist working in Germany, California, and South Korea. Drawing on a diasporic position, this exhibition explores themes such as collecting practices and display histories, forced migration and cultural appropriation, and reveals autoethnographic stories.

The current exhibition is part of a long-term project that examines the concept of cabinets of curiosities from the perspective of transnational feminism and through decolonial approaches. Mirae kh Rhee investigates established narratives of collecting while drawing attention to the often unequal collecting and display practices between Europe and Asia. The artist analyses elitist collection concepts that demonstrate power and construct identity. Museum visitors are invited to reflect on their own practices of collecting.

Accompanying Publication

A brochure accompanying the exhibition has been published and is available for download (PDF, 3.8 MB).

Curator

The exhibition is curated by Uta Rahman Steinert, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, in cooperation with the artist.

A special exhibition of the Museum für Asiatische Kunst – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin as part of the project Collaborative Museum (CoMuse) at the Humboldt Forum, room 318 and 319