Stolen Moments exhibition to open Friday at the Independence Memorial Museum
The National Museum of Namibia, in collaboration with the Werkstatt Ökonomie Kirchliche Arbeitsstelle Südliches Afrika (KASA) and the University of Bayreuth, is proud to present the multi-media exhibition Stolen Moments – Namibian Music History Untold that will open on Friday, 9 December, at the Independence Memorial Museum.
The exhibition was brought to Namibia through the Namibia Initiative of the Baden-Württemberg State Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts and the support of the German Federal Foreign Office, the German Embassy in Windhoek, and the Heinrich-Böll- Foundation.
The exhibition Stolen Moments – Namibian Music History Untold is a celebration of the stories of Namibia’s unsung musical heroes. Accordingly, it revives Namibian underground pop culture from the 1950s to the late 1980s – a period that marks some of the harshest years of racial discrimination under the South African apartheid regime that followed German colonialism.
“The exhibition reveals what back then remained almost unheard by a large part of the population due to censorship and segregation. This story is of those who, despite the propagated oppression, formed bands, resisted this cultural imposition, followed global trends, experimented with traditional sounds, played every weekend in backdoor ballrooms, and danced their way through decades of extreme racial injustice. The Stolen Moments Exhibition has its roots in Namibia, and the research for the project started in 2010 as a National Treasure Hunt for Namibia’s disregarded popular music,” the German Embassy in Windhoek said in a statement.
Moreover, Stolen Moments provides an alternative narrative to the socio-political history of Namibia and will form part of the permanent displays of the Independence Memorial Museum.
“Curated by Namibian scholars and produced in co-production with an international group of artists, filmmakers, and photographers, the exhibition showcases an extensive photographic collection, a 120min. video projection that revisits the dance styles of the 1950s-80s, 13 listening stations featuring Namibia’s music legends, a sound installation that explores a selection of over 100 hours of interviews with musicians and contemporary witnesses, and a collection of record covers and music memorabilia that profile Namibia’s much under-represented musical subcultures,” the embassy said.
The exhibition, which is curated by Aino Moongo, Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth, Lydia Nghilundilua, and Olivia Nakale from the National Museum of Namibia will kick off on Friday at the Independence Memorial Museum, second floor at around 15H00.
Deputy Minister of Education, Arts, and Culture, Faustina Caley, will officiate the launch of the exhibition, which is by invitation only.
The exhibition was produced with funds from the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Carl Schlettwein Foundation, the Mopane Foundation, and the support of NBC in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, and the National Archives.
