Instagram story viewer> @modekoerper> Posts

MAHRET IFEOMA KUPKA

@modekoerper

7K

followers

4627

following

curator @museumangewandtekunst Frankfurt/Main @talking_objects_lab Berlin Dakar Nairobi Lagos • writer • thinker • 📍069

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

‚Coming Home‘ at @jeanclaudemaier, curated by @modekoerper

Home is both a basic human need and a privilege. It promises feelings of arrival, belonging, and safety. For many, it is considered sacred and something to be kept private; for others, it is a stage for self-fashioning and an aesthetic backdrop. For queer people, this promise of home carries a double meaning: not only as the assumption of an already existing home, but also as the invention and appropriation of spaces beyond normative expectations.

Home is inherently a political place, even when it seeks to remain a refuge from politics and the public sphere. Class differences can be read through interior furnishings, while the allocation of space reflects decisions about care work, intimacy, and family, as well as hegemonic role models.

The exhibition is open till the 15.11.2026 by appointment.

Big thanks to @marina.engelhardt @timschuetze Simon Pöschko, @andrezsigmondy @studio_alibi_gmbh @nelkner___ and many more for your support!

Photos by @jensgerberfotografie by @modekoerper

187

16

16 days ago

„Coming Home“ solo exhibition, curated by Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka @modekoerper

Home is both a basic human need and a privilege. It promises feelings of arrival, belonging, and safety. For many, it is considered sacred and something to be kept private; for others, it is a stage for self-fashioning and an aesthetic backdrop. For queer people, this promise of home carries a double meaning: not only as the assumption of an already existing home, but also as the invention and appropriation of spaces beyond normative expectations.

Home is inherently a political place, even when it seeks to remain a refuge from politics and the public sphere. Class differences can be read through interior furnishings, while the allocation of space reflects decisions about care work, intimacy, and family, as well as hegemonic role models.

Jean-Claude Maier @jeanclaudemaier opens its doors from 18.09.–15.11. at Münchener Str. 38, 60329 Frankfurt am Main.

Opening reception on 17.09., 6–10 PM, invitation only.

The exhibition will be presented as part of World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026. @wdc2026

Image:
Tasteless Plates (Cumming Homme), 2026
Silkscreen print on porcelain

Graphic design and calligraphy by @marina.engelhardt by @modekoerper

348

30

2 months ago

I will be teaching as a guest professor this winter semester at the Staedelschule art school in Frankfurt.

In the seminar, we will focus on Appropriation Art, a practice that raises fundamental questions about originality, authorship and the connection between art and culture through the deliberate appropriation and reinterpretation of existing works. It originated in the 1960s and 1970s, when artists such as Andy Warhol, Sherrie Levine and Richard Prince questioned the boundaries between copy and original and challenged conventional notions of art. We will read and discuss texts to explore the historical development of Appropriation Art, from its early manifestations in Pop Art and Conceptual Art to its use as a critical tool to address social and cultural issues. One focus will be on the question of the legitimacy of appropriation: What ethical and legal implications are associated with the appropriation of other people’s works? What are the limits of appropriation art as a means of cultural criticism and reflection? We will examine how appropriation is evaluated today and what role it plays in current discourses on cultural appropriation, power relations, identity politics and cultural sovereignty. Through theoretical analyses and critical discussions, we will create a space in which both historical knowledge can be deepened and one’s own artistic practices can be refined.

Thanks to @isabelle_graw for the opportunity and to @marina_ackar for the nice photo. by @modekoerper

770

51

2 years ago

„Eclectic Affinities. Hamid Zénati und die Sammlung des Museum Angewandte Kunst” wurde gestern eröffnet! Vielen Dank an alle Beteiligten.

/

“Eclectic Affinities. Hamid Zénati and the Collection of the Museum Angewandte Kunst” opened yesterday! Thank you to everyone who joined us.

©️ Museum Angewandte Kunst

#MuseumAngewandteKunst #frankfurt #HamidZenati
@emmametzler_restaurant taken in Museum Angewandte Kunst by @modekoerper

378

13

2 years ago

Please mark your calendars. I am very happy to announce my upcoming exhibition at @museumangewandtekunst in collaboration with @annafeniaschneider and the @hamid_zenati_estate.

On September 27th we will be opening Eclectic Affinities, an extensive dialogue between Hamid Zénatis textile works and objects from the museum’s collection.

With his all-over stencil technique, Algerian born Zénati developed a distinct formal language and created compositions that were both playful and powerful. His paintings on textiles, ceramics, and furniture, as well as his approach to photography, challenge established boundaries and genres by moving between the realms of design, art, and interior design.

Zénati’s work resonates with the museum’s central questions: What is applied art today? Where is the boundary with the visual arts? Do our learned hierarchies, categories of knowledge, and viewing habits do justice to a diverse world?

In nine chapters the exhibition focuses on different aspects, enabling a new perspective on the practice of an individualist and autodidact whose observations of social, cultural, and artistic movements organically flowed into his work. It also elicits unconventional approaches to the collection objects selected by the curators in relation to Zénati’s work. Loans from the Frankfurt Museum of Modern Art and the Walther Collection (Neu-Ulm/New York) create further points of reference. by @modekoerper

163

6

2 years ago

Im Wintersemester 2023/24 und im Sommersemester 2024 unterrichtete ich an der Berliner Universität der Künste das Fach Designtheorie als Vertretung der emeritierten Designtheorie Professur. In zwei Seminaren zum Thema ANEIGNUNGEN befassten sich die Studierenden der höheren Semester umfassend in Theorie und Praxis mit diesem umfangreichen Themenkomplex. Es ging darum, den Begriff der Aneignung in der Breite zu verstehen. Wer eignet an und kann aneignen, wer wurde und wird angeeignet? Wie stehen Aneignungsprozesse in Beziehung zu herrschenden Vorstellungen von Kultur und Gesellschaft? Wann wird die Aneignung zur Überlebensstrategie, für wen? Wir lasen gemeinsam, schauten, hörten und diskutierten mit Gästen, die sich in ihrer Arbeitspraxis auf je unterschiedliche Weise mit Aneignungen befassen und/oder individuelle Lösungen im Umgang mit Machtungleichverhältnissen gefunden haben. Wie können Aneignungen mit Sensibilität, Respekt und ethischer Verantwortung gelingen? Welche Aushandlungsräume braucht es, um Ausbeutung, Missverständnisse, Konflikte und die Verletzung von Rechten zu vermeiden? Welche Voraussetzungen sind nötig, um Aneignungen in Kollaborationen zu transformieren?

Im Oktober 2024 wird eine Publikation erscheinen, die Ergebnisse des Kurses zusammenfasst.

Grafische Gestaltung von @rabyflorence taken in Universität der Künste by @modekoerper

222

8

2 years ago

Some views of the @talking_objects_lab exhibition Ré-imaginer le passé at KINDL — Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin @kindlberlin
24.3.24 – 28.7.24

Artists: Elsa M’Bala, Fatou Kandé Senghor, Caroline Gueye, Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Ibrahima Thiam, Viyé Diba, Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, Uriel Orlow, baobab création, C& Center of Unfinished Business
Curatorial Team: Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Isabel Raabe, Ibou C. Diop, Malick Ndiaye

Ré-imaginer le passé is more than just an exhibition — it is an ambitious research journey spanning several months, a collaboration between curators, thinkers and artists from the African continent, the diaspora, Germany and India. The aim of this participatory project, which was developed in Dakar, is to reinterpret our past and develop alternative narratives for the future. The central question: Can a different understanding of our stories lead to a new ethics of relationship between the global South and the global North?

Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, and Pro Helvetia

Images: Jens Ziehe.

@isabelraabe_01 @ibou_c_diop @anabambalaelsatatiana @fatou.k.senghor
@studiocarolinegueye @nbikoro @ibrahima.thiam.studio @mansour.ciss @urielorlow @contemporaryand @akoma_camara @nunudesignbydk

@kindlberlin
#kindlberlin
#talkingobjectslab
#kulturstiftungdesbundes
#prohelvetia
@ifa.de
#dakar
#berlin taken in KINDL - Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst by @modekoerper

152

4

3 years ago

I am happy to announce our upcoming @talking_objects_lab exhibition Ré-imaginer le passé at KINDL — Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin

24.3.24 – 28.7.24
Opening: 23.3.24, 18:00 – 21:00

Artists: Elsa M’Bala, Fatou Kandé Senghor, Caroline Gueye, Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Ibrahima Thiam, Viyé Diba, Mansour Ciss Kanakassy, Uriel Orlow, baobab création, C& Center of Unfinished Business

Curatorial Team: Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Isabel Raabe, Ibou C. Diop, Malick Ndiaye

Ré-imaginer le passé is more than just an exhibition — it is an ambitious research journey spanning several months, a collaboration between curators, thinkers and artists from the African continent, the diaspora, Germany and India. The aim of this participatory project, which was developed in Dakar, is to reinterpret our past and develop alternative narratives for the future. The central question: Can a different understanding of our stories lead to a new ethics of relationship between the global South and the global North?

Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media), ifa – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, and Pro Helvetia

@isabelraabe_01 @ibou_c_diop @anabambalaelsatatiana @fatou.k.senghor @studiocarolinegueye @nbikoro @ibrahima.thiam.studio @mansour.ciss @urielorlow
@contemporaryand @akoma_camara @nunudesignbydk

@kindlberlin #kindlberlin #talkingobjectslab #kulturstiftungdesbundes #prohelvetia @ifa.de #dakar #berlin taken in KINDL - Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst by @modekoerper

143

7

3 years ago

@talking_objects_lab
RÉ-IMAGINER LE PASSÉ
LABoratoires et expositions

25/11/2023 – 08/01/2024
Musée Theodore Monod d’art africain IFAN, Dakar

24/03/2024 – 28/07/2024
KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin

Ré-imaginer le passé is more than just the two exhibitions in Dakar and Berlin—it is a long-term research journey, spanning several months. Guided by a participatory approach, a team of German and Senegalese curators brings together curious minds and visionary artists to explore our past and future. The project addresses the question of whether a reinterpretation of the past can produce other narratives for the future and thus a new ethic in the relations between the global South and the global North.

We refer to the concept of the imaginary as a starting point for rethinking realities and thus contribute to their change. By focusing on the coloniality of our times, the project proposes to revisit the past and imagine a future from a decolonial perspective, to open up the possibility of new ways of thinking, of other knowledges and other narratives.

These thoughts were the starting point for a workshop series—called LABoratoires and held in May 2023 in Dakar—in which the participating artists together with thinkers Nikita Dhawan and @mariadomarcastro shared their approaches and practices. In this dialogic process the artworks shown in the exhibition evolved and most of them have been commissioned specifically for this context. The artists revisit objects, rethink history, rediscover knowledge and bridge space and time.

Ré-imaginer le passé is taking place in the frame of @partcours, and part of a series of events, artist residencies and exhibitions of the TALKING OBJECTS LAB – Decolonizing Knowledge, which has been evolving in Germany, Senegal and Kenya since 2020.

Artists: @anabambalaelsatatiana @fatou.k.senghor @studiocarolinegueye @nbikoro @ibrahima.thiam.studio Viye Diba @kanakassy.ma4nsour.ciss @urielorlow and @baobab_creations

Curatorial Team: @modekoerper @isabelraabe_01 @ibou_c_diop and Malick Ndiaye

Photo: Série Maam Njaré, 2020, Ibrahima Thiam @ibrahima.thiam.studio taken in Dakar, Senegal by @modekoerper

119

0

3 years ago

𝐄𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐧 𝟗𝟎 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭*𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐧
Distinktion und Knowhow. Mode ist eine Identitäts-, aber auch eine Geldperformance. Die einen kaufen sich einfach das Teuerste, andere picken mit großer Expertise die richtigen Stücke aus dem Wühltisch, und die meisten liegen mit ihren Klamotten eh immer daneben. 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐈𝐟𝐞𝐨𝐦𝐚 𝐊𝐮𝐩𝐤𝐚 (@modekoerper), Kuratorin am @museumangewandtekunst , spricht über sapeurs, die im Kongo auf ihre je eigene Weise westlichen Luxus zelebrieren, über den Unterschied zwischen altem und neuem Geld, über die Serie Succession, Zadie Smiths Swingtime, Christian Krachts Barbour-Jacke und die Luxus-Alditüte von Lars Eidinger.

Ihr wollt mehr erfahren? Bucht ein 1:1 Gespräch oder verfolgt die Gespräche im Markt-Radio!

🟡 Markt für nützliches Wissen und Nicht-Wissen
(Mobile Akademie Berlin | Lizenz #12)
🕐 16.09., 19.00 Uhr
📍 @frankfurt.lab

Alle Infos und Tickets unter dem Link in unserer Bio. Portrait von Mahret Ifeoma Kupka. Bild auf Text: Distinktion und Knowhow. taken in Frankfurt LAB by @modekoerper

158

1

3 years ago

I had the honor to moderate the annual @design_akademie_saaleck walk+talk in Saaleck, Bad Kösen on September 2nd. Under the title "Monumental Affairs" and the creative direction of African-American architect @germane.barnes , the topic this time was the past and future of monuments and their significance for our societies.

The Saaleck Workshops, on whose grounds the Saaleck Design Academy is constantly reinventing itself today, were founded in 1904 by Paul Schultze-Naumburg and, at the latest since Schultze-Naumburg joined the NSDAP in 1932, developed decidedly into a counter-design to the ideals of the Bauhaus and the Deutscher Werkbund. Through his membership in the NSDAP, his Reichstag mandate, parts of his literary work (Kampf um die Kunst) and by means of his contacts to National Socialist prominence, Schultze-Naumburg was an active pioneer of the Third Reich. Due to his activities in the "Block," his membership and his function as chairman in the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur, he was one of the initiators and co-responsible for the closure of the Dessau Bauhaus (1932) and for the book burnings of 1933. With his book Kunst und Rasse (Art and Race), which served as a model for the 1937 "Degenerate Art" exhibition, and his conduct as director of the Weimar Art Academy, Schultze-Naumburg was a leading pioneer and contributor to National Socialist cultural ideology.

dieDAS made a conscious decision not to museumize the site and, in changing artistic directors and international fellow programs, continues to question the site anew, thus keeping memory and developments for models of coexistence in motion. International personalities and art, design, architecture and culture were invited. I was able to establish many new contacts and am eagerly following the further developments of this important space. taken in Burg Saaleck by @modekoerper

211

4

3 years ago

Throwback to an unforgettable evening at G.A.S Lagos for Unexpected Lessons #04! ⁠
⁠
Hosted by Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, this gathering took place on February 10th, 2023, with two incredible interdisciplinary panels of experts, artists, curators, and thinkers to delve into the crucial topic of decolonizing restitution. ⁠
⁠
This event was supported by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Nigeria.⁠
⁠
To watch the videos, see the link in bio⁠
⁠
__ _⁠
⁠
Slide 1-3
A collaborative performance by Tolulope Ami-Williams @official.stunna_⁠
⁠
Slide 4
Spoken word poetry performance by Ayomide Fasedu @bloodymidefash⁠
⁠

⁠
Panel 1: Wale Ojo @republicjournal , Dr Oluwatoyin Sogbesan @oluwatoyinsho, Sarafadeen Bello @onthereviewtoday , Femi Johnson @femi.johnson_⁠
⁠
Panel 2: Tracian Meikle @tracianmeikle, Olufisayo Bakare @fifibaxx, Brenda Fashugba @brenda, Matthew Blaise @matthew.blaise⁠
⁠
⁠ Slide 7
Opening lecture by Dr Mahret Ifeoma Kupka @modekoerper⁠

#GASFoundation #GuestArtistsSpace #HeinrichBöllStiftung #UnexpectedLessons #ThrowbackEvent #ArtandCulture #Restitution #DecolonizingRestitution #DecolonialThinking #MahretIfeomaKupka

Special thanks @boellstiftung taken in Lagos, Nigeria by @modekoerper

291

1

3 years ago