Iwalewahaus,

University of Bayreuth The University of Bayreuth (German: Universität Bayreuth) is a public research university located in Bayreuth, Germany. It is one of the youngest German universities. It is broadly organized into seven undergraduate and graduate faculties, with ...

, is a place for the production and presentation of

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

. By doing exhibitions, academic research and teaching, by taking care of the collection and the archive as well as providing residencies for artists, recent developments in contemporary

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n and

Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

culture are presented and refined together with artists and institutions. The Iwalewahaus collection comprises over 12,000 works of art, making it the largest institutional collection of contemporary African art in Europe. The mission of Iwalewahaus is to research, document and teach recent African culture. The focus is on visual arts, everyday culture, the media and music. The house provides space for lectures, conferences, concerts, film screenings and readings and is a vivid forum for artists, researchers, students of African studies and the interested public.Iwalewahaus
"Iwalewahaus. Archive Laboratory Utopia"
Retrieved on 22 August 2014.

Research and teaching

Most of the Iwalewa-projects are developed in close cooperation with institutions from Africa and Europe and are supported by publications. The focus of the research is contemporary art, popular culture, the media - especially photography - as well as African

modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular Society, socio-Culture, cultural Norm (social), norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the ...

and

museology Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

. The following projects are part of the research: ''Africa Screams – Das Böse in Kino, Kunst und Kult'' (2004); ''Black Paris'' (2006); ''Hidden Pages, Stolen Bodies'' (2009); ''Piga Picha!'' (2008/2010), ''Iwalewa - Quatre vues de l’Afrique contemporaine'' (2013), ''Al'umma Society Celebrating Life - Hausa Society of Northern Nigeria in two photography perspectives by Nina Fischer-Stephan & Mallam Mudi Yahaya (2023)'' ''and

Twins Seven Seven Twins Seven Seven, born Omoba Taiwo Olaniyi Oyewale-Toyeje Oyelale Osuntoki (3 May 1944 – 16 June 2011) was a Nigerian painter, sculptor and musician. He was an itinerant singer and dancer before he began his career as an artist, first attendin ...

and his Yorùbá Universe (2024).'' The teaching at Iwalewahaus concentrates on four areas: art studies with reference to Africa, aspects of African popular culture, institutionalisation and interaction of art worlds and finally broader questions of the history of media and the study of visual culture. Since 2012 the practise based study program "Art and Curatorial Studies" has been offered as part of the master studies course "Culture and Society in Africa".

Collection

Iwalewahaus maintains a collection of modern and contemporary

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and the Pacific Area that is unique within Germany. The main focus of the collection is

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, but there are equally important artworks from

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

DR Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The collection is generally based on the collection of

Ulli Beier Chief Horst Ulrich Beier, commonly known as Ulli Beier (30 July 1922 – 3 April 2011), was a German editor, writer and scholar who had a pioneering role in developing the Western world's understanding of literature, drama and poetry in Niger ...

, the founder of Iwalewahaus. The collection of paintings, especially those of the

Oshogbo Osogbo (also known as ''Oṣogbo'', and seldomly as ''Oshogbo'') is a city in Nigeria. It became the capital city of Osun State in 1991. Osogbo city seats the Headquarters of both Osogbo Local Government Area (situated at Oke-Baale Area of th ...

-school plus the collection of graphics with a focus on the Nigerian

Nsukka Nsukka is a town and a Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. Nsukka shares a common border as a town with Edem, Opi (archaeological site), Ede-Oballa, and Obimo. The postal code of the area is 410001 and 410002 respectively, re ...

-school is of international significance. Apart from visual arts, the archive of Iwalewahaus hosts an extensive collection of contemporary African music, video film productions from Nigeria and Ghana and African textiles. The collection has recently been expanded by private donations like the collection Kleine-Gunk and the Kindermann collection. These extensions secure the collection’s status as the largest public collection of African contemporary art in Europe for the long term.

Naming

The saying ''Iwalewa'' is borrowed from the language of the Yoruba, one of the three major ethnic groups in south-west

. Translated literally, ''Iwalewa'' means “character is beauty“. The term ''Iwa'' stands for the “good character“, although the original meaning of ''Iwa'' can be translated as “existence“.

History

The house opened its doors on November 27, 1981, as a support for the Africa focus of the

. The aim was to introduce a broader public to non-European arts and culture. Founder and first head of Iwalewahaus from 1981 to 1985 was

(1922–2011). Beier was a noted connoisseur of

’s arts and culture. When Beier moved to

in 1985, Ronald Ruprecht became director of the house. From 1989 to 1996 the house again was under the aegis of Ulli Beier. From 1997 to 2001 Iwalewahaus was directed by Till Förster.Till Förster und Universität Bayreuth (Hrsg.): ''Afrikaforschung in Bayreuth. 20 Jahre Afrikaforschung an der Universität Bayreuth''. Iwalewa-Haus, Bayreuth 1998 (no ISBN). When Förster moved to the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, Tobias Wendl became new director. After Wendl was offered a chair at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

Iwalewahaus has been directed by Ulf Vierke and Nadine Siegert as Deputy Director since 2010.

Building

From 1981 until the end of 2013 the domicile of Iwalewahaus was a former

mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...

("Markgräfliche Münze"), a sandstone building protected as an historic monument from the 18th century. In November 2013 Iwalewahaus moved to its new residence at Wölfelstraße 2. This building was built in 1907 for the Bavarian state’s bank in Oberfranken. During the 1970s the building was adopted by the forestry office and finally used by the surveyor’s office and the building authorities. Including the basement and loft, the structure offers nearly 2,300 square meters for offices and space for exhibitions and the archive.

References

{{authority control University of Bayreuth Art museums and galleries in Germany