After a three year artist residency at the Mineralogical Museum, University of Bonn, Sascha Mikloweit presents a dazzling experimental exhibition at the Poppelsdorfer Schloss. The show is the first of its kind in the institution’s 200 year history, connecting various locations throughout Bonn with the Poppelsdorfer Schloss at its gravitational centre.

Mikloweit relates the University’s mineralogical collection to different times and spaces in history and geography: by expanding the scope of scientific collections, his practice reframes our understanding of the minerals—un- earthing their complex and often violent pasts. The exhibition offers a unique opportunity for visitors to explore the interconnectedness of colonialism, science and extractivism through the lens of mineralogical specimens.

We Build Our Languages Out Of Rocks—Transpositional Geologies combines immersive installation, process sculpture, situational performance, experimental film and a series of lecture interventions welcoming guest speakers from Africa, North America, and Europe.

Opening 19.04.2023
1630h
transposition 135 (Helmut Maier (DE): Circulations: Colonial Geology, the Prussian Geological State Institution, and the South West African Copper (1850-1919))
Lecture Intervention
Lecture Hall, Department of Geochemistry/ Petrology, Institute of Geosciences, Poppelsdorfer Schloss
1730h – 2000h
transposition 241 (Before Thought Hardens Into Language)
Opening special exhibition hall
Mineralogical Museum University Bonn, Poppelsdorfer Schloss
2000h
transposition 001 (Happy Banality of Everything)
Film screening
H1, Kurfürstliches Schloss (University of Bonn, main building: entrance ‘Theaterplatz’)

Lecture Interventions
Institute of Geosciences, Department of Geochemistry/ Petrology, Lecture Hall, Poppelsdorfer Schloss

19/04/2023 | 1630h transposition 135 (Prof. Dr. Dr. Helmut Maier (DE): Circulations: Colonial Geology, the Prussian Geological State Institution, and the South West African Copper (1850-1919))

26/04/2023 | 1630h transposition 633 (Prof. Dr. Selby Hearth (US) / Dr. Carrie Robbins (US): If you don’t grow it, you have to mine it: Geologists, knowledge production, and colonial legacies)

27/04/2023 | 1630h transposition 495 (Elli Stella Udda Imalwa-Nangolo (NA), Philemon Sheya Kaluwapa (NA/DE), Noemie Gramlich (DE): German colonialism, environmental injustice, and ecological reparation: The case of Tsumeb)

25/05/2023 | 1630h transposition 512 (Prof. Dr. Paul Basu (UK/DE): Coloniality and collecting: extractivism and the production of knowledge – materials and material culture)

07/06/2023 | 1630h transposition 792 (Dr. Chris Hill (UK): Critical Earth: Uranium and the Namib in the Nuclear Imagination)

Film Screenings
H1, Kurfürstliches Schloss (University of Bonn, main building: entrance ‘Theaterplatz’)

19/04 | 2000h transposition 001 (Happy Banality of Everything)
26/04 | 2000h transposition 001 (Happy Banality of Everything)
23/05 | 2000h transposition 001 (Happy Banality of Everything)
07/06 | 2000h transposition 001 (Happy Banality of Everything)

Transpositional Geologies Project 2019-2023 supported by
Kunststiftung NRW
Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR)
Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Ifa)
BBK Modul C Neustart Kultur
Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa Berlin
Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Rheinland
Deutsche Botschaft Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
Stiftung Kunst der Sparkasse Bonn
Bonner Universitätsstiftung
Stiftung Kunstfonds
Kulturamt Bonn
LaserSoft Imaging

Collaborating Institutions
Tsumeb Municipality, Tsumeb, Namibia
Mineralogical Collection of the Ministry of Mining and Energy Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
Deutsche Botschaft Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
Goethe Institut Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
Mineralogische Sammlungen der Technischen Universität Berlin, Berlin, Deutschland
Mineralogisches Museum der Universität Bonn, Bonn, Deutschland
Förderverein Filmkultur Bonn e.V.


Credits: Coming soon!

https://transpositional-geologies.org