For thousands of years, human beings have lived in relationships of asymmetric dependency. Networks of dependency are created by people controlling access to resources and the things people produce and consume. Yet, often it is the very things that make dependencies real for observers. Within such a framework of material and social dependencies, the exhibition “Ressourcen der Macht” , shown in four locations, tells a millennia-old story of slavery and strong asymmetrical dependencies through objects that relate to the materiality of three resource groups: Grains, luxury foods, and textiles. The production of resources such as cotton, coffee, and corn, the globalized trade flows, and the different uses of the goods produced from the resources are closely interwoven with varying manifestations of dependencies.
The exhibition is the collaborative work of the Research Area "Embodied Dependencies" of Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies and is based on objects from various museums and collections of the university. The exhibition will be further developed in the coming years and will become the core of a large display of the materiality of dependency and slavery.
The exhibition opening will be streamed live with welcome addresses by Prof. Dr. Andreas Zimmer, Vice Rector for Research and Early-Career Researchers, and Prof. Dr. Volker Kronenberg, Dean of the Faculty of Arts.