Selecting Memory: What Makes It to the Museum

This public forum at the Weltmuseum Wien examines how African and Black histories enter or are excluded from ethnographic and world museums, and who holds the power to decide what is collected, displayed, and remembered. Held in recognition of Black History Month, the discussion considers the museum as an institution shaped by colonial ways of knowing, practices of extraction, and long-standing silences. Bringing together curatorial practice, scholarship, and lived experience, “Selecting Memory: What Makes It to the Museum” asks how museums can move beyond symbolic gestures of inclusion toward decolonial accountability, ethical forms of representation, and shared authority in the making of historical memory.

Dshamilja Adeifio Gosteli (she/dey), is an educational scientist, educator, and lecturer. Dey works at the University of Vienna in the Department of Gender Studies (RGF) and as a lecturer in educational science at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). Their work focuses on researching (education-related) spaces in order to analytically highlight the significance of anti-racism within white-dominated societies, queerphobia, weight discrimination, and white supremacy.

Marina Gržinić, is a philosopher and theorist based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Gržinić is a prominent contemporary critical and theoretical figure in Slovenia. She publishes extensively and lectures internationally. Since 1993, she has been affiliated with the Institute of Philosophy, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, and currently teaches Aesthetics and Technology at the ZRC SAZU Postgraduate School. Since 2003, Gržinić has been a Full Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and currently supervises a dozen PhD students in Philosophy.

Simon Inou studied sociology in Duala (Cameroon) and journalism in Vienna. INOU was editor-in-chief of Radio Afrika International in Vienna (1998-2005), co-founder and editor-in-chief of blackaustria.info, and publisher of fresh, Black Austrian LifeStyle Magazine. For many years, he coordinated various mainstream media projects (including for the Wiener Zeitung and Die Presse newspapers), organized the Medien.Messe.Migration (2008-2015), and founded the association for the promotion of intercultural media work, M-MEDIA, in 2007. Since 2024, he has been organizing the Austrian Anti-Racism Days. 

Henrie Dennis is the newly appointed Curator of the African Collections at the Weltmuseum Wien. Nigerian-born, she is a human rights activist, art curator, academic researcher, and cultural mediator whose work brings together cultural practice, critical scholarship, and sustained community engagement. She is the founder of Afro Rainbow Austria, serves as co-chair of Planet 10, and acts as the European representative on the ILGA World Women’s Committee. Through art, scholarship, and dialogue, she challenges dominant frameworks of knowledge and amplifies marginalized voices, working toward more just, connected, and accountable cultural futures.

Lecture in German and English language
To participate in the event, all guests need a valid museum ticket.
Participation is free for annual ticket holders, Weltmuseum Wien Friends, Patrons, Members and Ambassadors as well as ICOM members and holders of the Kulturpass.
Registration: online
Meeting point: WMW Forum