The exhibition “Whispers of Archives: In the Footsteps of Hans Himmelheber,” on view until March 29, 2026, is the result of a collaborative effort between the Rietberg Museum, the MuCAT, the Museum of Civilizations, and the Rotonde des Arts. It is also supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture and the Ministry of Culture and Francophonie. Under the supervision of five curators—Michaela Oberhofer (Rietberg Museum), Tamandra Geny (MuCAT), Yacouba Konaté (Rotonde des Arts), Francis Tagro (Museum of Civilizations), and Jonas Lendenmann (Switzerland)—this exhibition immerses us in the archives of Hans Himmelheber (German ethnologist), compiled between 1933 and 1976 during his travels to Liberia and Ivory Coast. These archives comprise nearly 15,000 photographs, a thousand objects, dozens of films, and a collection of writings. Housed at the Rietberg Museum, they have been the subject of extensive research conducted jointly in recent years with the University of Zurich and Ivorian partners. This exhibition addresses a topical issue: the restitution of African artworks and the intersecting perspectives of the five co-curators, at the heart of which Ivorian voices—curatorial, artistic, scientific, and museum-related—play a vital role. These voices are expressed, in particular, through the return of visual archives to the Dan communities, where film and photograph screenings revive memories, customs, and the bonds that sustain them.
This reappropriation is also embodied in a constellation of artists from Ivory Coast, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Switzerland, whose works engage with the Himmelheber collection to reveal its complexities, tensions, and legacies. Close collaboration with the University of Bondoukou has also given rise to student projects that renew and refresh these interpretations.
Finally, the donation of 107 objects to the Museum of Civilizations by the Himmelheber/Fischer family opens a new chapter, one of openly embraced sharing.