Art talk BeLonging: Ninhursag Tadaros
Photo: Maja Brand
Nino is also an Assyriologist and Cuneiformist – that means she has studied ancient Mesopotamian history through the Akkadian and Sumerian languages. Mesopotamia was a region in what is today Iraq, parts of Syria, Turkey, and Iran, its heartland between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is among the first places where people began to settle in larger numbers, where the first cities where built, and where writing – cuneiform – was invented. The people spoke Sumerian and Akkadian – now dead languages.
Nino has also through her curatorial research explored the possibilities and challenges of exhibiting contemporary art together with ancient or historical objects.
In this art talk, she will give us a brief introduction to Mesopotamian history and how (and why) writing was invented, and she will tell us more about the questions and topics that the exhibition in the atrium reflects on (matters such as belonging, ownership, relationship and more). She will also tell us about the work of internationally acclaimed artist Michael Rakowitz, as it relates to this exhibition, and her experience of working to bring this exhibition about.