Planet Africa

“Planet Africa” is being created under the direction of Jörg Linstädter in collaboration with Gerd-Christian Weniger (University of Cologne), Wazi Apoh (University of Ghana) and the MVF, Berlin. The exhibition is conceived in close cooperation with African colleagues and the DFG priority program “Entangled Africa”. In addition, African artists have designed illustrations for the individual thematic modules. The project is funded by the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Research Foundation (DFG). Six modules highlight the important role of Africa in human history, from the first representatives of the genus Homo to the more recent development of new cultural techniques and nutritional strategies that were carried from Africa to the whole world. They present a continent that fascinates us with its natural diversity and which, with constant (environmental) changes, adaptation processes and migratory movements, has always required new survival strategies. In addition to archaeological finds, pictures and written signs provide comprehensive evidence of the art, crafts, technology and environment of times long past – and of the connections between people across enormous distances. Excavations of settlements and urban centers reveal social and political structures for dense coexistence, while at the same time large-scale nomadic ways of life existed. In addition, the modern use of ancient knowledge and the archaeological exploration of their own past by the African researchers and artists involved in the research projects and the exhibition are shown. In this way, the exhibition also examines the viability of archaeology as a connecting link for pan-African and intercontinental solidarity.