Ethnological Museum Berlin

Historiography, Media Library, Objects

VIDEO: Fragments of the Spanish Conquest from the Americas: Relics or Memorials? Curator Talk with Manuela Fischer & Bat-Ami Artzi

By means of two case studies closely related to the Spanish conquest of the America, Bat-ami Artzi and Manuela Fischer reflect on the value of the fragment as an aesthetic and scientific interpretative tool within the European tradition. They also consider the role of fragments as relics and memorials, and examine their relation to questions of identity in both an Andean and European context.

4A_Lab

Field Notes, Objects, Plants, Practices

Sullu Sullu, an Abortifacient Plant at the Service of the Inca Empire

Human beings are rarely represented in the art produced in the heartland of the Inca Empire. However, in the collections of the Ethnologisches Museum Berlin we find a remarkable exception: a ceramic jar from the Cusco region on which six women are depicted holding a tree branch with two flowers sprouts. Who are these women, and what was the nature of their relationship with the plant?

Bat-Ami Artzi