Paper short abstract:

This paper deals with the topic of external artistic, activist and curatorial positions in museums using the example of the exhibition series Counter Images of the Rautenstrauch-Jost Museum Cologne. In collaboration the exhibition explores marginalized images as visual tools for (self-) empowerment.

Paper long abstract:

Images tell stories. But who selects, archives, and presents them? How do they shape or distort memory? How do we "read" old photos today?

Dedicated to the power of the visual and sensitive museum collections and archives, this paper sheds light on exhibiting photographs and the role photography plays when we write, mediate, and remember history.

Almost 200 years after its invention, photography has become a global medium. Never before have so many images been produced and distributed as today. In the beginning, however, it was closely linked to colonialism and ethnology. Western photographers took pictures of people, objects, and landscapes in colonies. In Europe, these images were, and in some cases still are, considered objective – just like the medium of photography itself. In fact, however, they were often used to classify people on the basis of external features in the name of a pseudo-scientific “racial science”. In this way, they contributed significantly to the stereotypes that are still effective today.

This paper refers to the Counter Images exhibition series at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne. In collaboration with artists, curators, and activists the exhibition explores marginalized images as visual tools for (self-) empowerment. Using contemporary works, they reveal the power of images and enable new perspectives. How can these collaborations be more than merely lip service, and what can a critical reframing of sensitive visual collections with external voices look like?