Cameroon-born Contemporary Art Curator to Lead Germany's Leading Art Center

Cameroon-born Contemporary Art Curator to Lead Germany's Leading Art Center

Experienced Cameroon-born contemporary art curator and writer Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung is the next director of Germany's Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures). The well-connected art entrepreneur will be assuming this position on January 1, 2023, after the German Minister of State for Culture and the Media, Monika Grütters, announced that he will be succeeding the current director, Bernd Scherer.

The 44-year-old Berlin resident, who at the age of 25 was inspired by Nigerian-born Okwui Enwezor -  the first African to head the venerable Documenta in 2002 -  has been an imposing figure in the German art and museum scene for many years. He is the founding director of SAVVY Contemporary, an independent project space in Berlin, an art space and discursive platform for exhibitions, performances, and other events. He is also the editor-in-chief of the SAVVY Journal for critical texts on contemporary African art

Recently, Ndikung, who moved to Germany in 1997 to study at the Technical University Berlin and holds a doctorate in medical biotechnology, has been curating for the biennial arts festival in Sonsbeek, the Netherlands, as well as being a co-curator for Adam Szymczyk’s Documenta 14. 

For Ndikung, his philosophy of art is that art is "the highest form of politics," and at the same time, a "universal language that is understood by almost everyone." He also advocates for art’s potential to reconcile and reconnect people. For these elements of reconciliation and reconnection, he puts his words to action as he has been involved in art fairs and exhibitions that discuss Germany's dealings with its colonial past as well as emergence from the rubble of World War II.

Not neglecting his African roots, the art aficionado known for his suits and pocket square fashion statement, has also been at the forefront of conversations surrounding the repatriation of art stolen from Africa during colonial times. His Savvy Contemporary art space is running an exhibition, "For the Phoenix To Find Its Form In Us" — as a commentary on the current restitution debate."  

The show is about restitution as rehabilitation, also as reparation," Ndikung told DW

On the website of Savvy Contemporary for the Berlin exhibition, this position is elaborated thus: "We cannot reduce restitution to the return of objects while the people who are to receive these objects neither have the luxury of breathing, nor the lands on which to plant their seeds, or are deprived of the abode in which they shelter."

On the back of Germany recently committing to return some of the looted Benin bronzes in its museums to Nigeria, Ndikung acknowledges that Germany has already done a lot in terms of restitution, "but, of course, that's not enough," he added.

His work as the next director of the House of World Cultures will afford him the opportunity to propel his ideas for art as an avenue for reconnection and reconciliation on a wider scale and Ndikung is gearing up to continue the preservation of the institution as a platform for discussion, saying, "the world is changing dramatically: our understanding of the world is changing. That's why we need a place like this to discuss it."

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