A handful of 5,000-year-old grape seeds have surfaced in the collection of the Stadtmuseum Berlin (Berlin City Museum). They were once removed from an ancient Egyptian tomb by Georg Schweinfurth – their subsequent history can only be reconstructed in fragments.
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Titelmotiv der Ausstellung Grains of Memory – Kernfragen.
Today, they form the starting point of a compelling exhibition about colonial collecting practices, cultural heritage, and the responsibility of museums.
Where exactly did these seeds come from? Why were they in the tomb? How did they end up in the Stadtmuseum's archive – and do they even belong there? What responsibility do museums bear when dealing with objects from problematic collection contexts? Many questions remain unanswered – truly fundamental questions.
The exhibition “Fundamental Questions. Grains of Memory,” which will be on display in spring 2026, fundamentally challenges the museum as a place of interpretive authority. It opens up spaces for remembrance, empowerment, and radical new approaches to museum practice and, in cooperation with the Stadtmuseum Berlin, critically examines the status quo.
At its core is intensive provenance research conducted by students who interviewed experts in botany, Egyptology, and history and comprehensively researched the objects' histories. Simultaneously, voices from the Egyptian community were actively integrated into the curatorial process. Films, contemporary art, and participatory formats connect Egyptological, ethnobotanical, and decolonial perspectives with the experiences of the Egyptian diaspora in Berlin.
An open call invites artists to engage with the colonial context, while interviews and explanatory videos provide additional background information and context. Museums preserve collections—and thus also colonial heritage. There are no definitive answers regarding how to deal with this in the future.
"Core Questions. Grains of Memory" is conceived as an invitation to dialogue and as a space for new ideas, perspectives, and collaborative negotiation processes.
