Muziekinstrumenten uit de verzameling van Emil Riebeck, op de binnenplaats van het Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlijn 1884

This photograph by Hermann Rückwardt captures Emil Riebeck's collection of musical instruments displayed in the Berlin Arts and Crafts Museum. The late 19th century was a period of intense colonial expansion, and Riebeck, a German ethnologist and collector, amassed these objects during his travels, reflecting the era's fascination with non-European cultures. Consider how the arrangement of these instruments flattens diverse cultural practices into a single display. What stories are silenced when objects are removed from their original context and placed within a European museum? The photograph itself becomes an artifact of colonial desire, documenting the act of collecting and categorizing the world through a Western lens. These instruments, once integral to community rituals and personal expression, are now presented as specimens. Reflect on the power dynamics inherent in such displays, and the complex legacy of cultural exchange and appropriation.