Neocolonial exclusion instead of international cooperation?
The GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig works on a wide variety of topics such as restitution, repatriation and remembrance culture. These are of great importance worldwide, but what would this work look like without international cooperation?
Film
Die Einbeziehung
The involvement of international partners is necessary to shed light on colonialism and its consequences. Without their view, an examination of postcolonial structures is not possible.
However, freedom of travel is extremely unequal internationally and German and European entry policies often do not allow for equal participation. In April 2023, the Rwandan tandem partner Serge Ndakebuka and his German tandem partner Rhea Daraboš were unable to start their project time together at the GRASSI Museum due to a visa refusal. In their video “Our voice needs to be heard” they speak about it.
The focus of the intervention is to show how challenging international cooperation can be due to the different visa granting mechanisms depending on the origin of the applicants. The main goal is to show how the current visa policy destroys visions, projects and dreams in the process.