Anna-Sophie Springer & Raul Walch, eds.
Owned by Others
A Map to Possession Island
Owned by Others: A Map to Possession Island treads the interstices of the institutionally mummified city center that is Museum Island in Berlin. An embodied interrogation of colonial looting and nationalist chauvinism, this book maps alternative orientations for decolonization, restitution, repair, and empowering movement. Owned by Others also considers how the alleged “revitalization” of the museologized city center continues to exploit the lived experiences of diasporic artists and looks to other practices of inhabitation and transformation to challenge these legacies of oppression.
Conceived to inspire readers to go on their own walks around the area, this publication follows and extends a series of site-specific works organized by the initiative Owned by Others, including the conversion of a former storefront for a Caribbean travel agency into the “Museum Tropicana,” located across the river from the Stadtschloss/Humboldt Forum. Comprised of images and artists’ writing reflecting on the Museum Tropicana and related agitprop events and projects, as well newly commissioned and translated essays on the psychogeography of Berlin, the publication proposes a counter-vision to the reactionary urban planning that has cemented on Museum Island.
This publication is forthcoming, with an expected release on the occasion of the 2024 Miss Read art bookfair, taking place at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, from 10 to 12 October 2024. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified about the bookfair and when the book is ready to ship.
Owned by Others: A Map to Possession Island. Edited by Raul Walch and Anna-Sophie Springer. With texts by Aïsha Ariella Azoulay, Melanie Garland, Nathaniel Flakin, Lutz Henke, Lauren Lee, Carla J. Maier, Nnenna Onuoha, Patrice G. Poutrus, Anna-Sophie Springer, Adela Taleb, Raul Walch, Katharina Warda, and others. Design by Basics09.
- English and German
- 232 pages
- 19 × 25.5 cm
- Full color and BW images, richly illustrated, two paper types and Pantone ink
- Softcover, thread-sewn, flaps, foil stamping, Otabind spine
- ISBN: 978-3-947858-39-2
Published on 10 October 2024