Duet for cannibals

forms of cultural appropriation

Edición de la obra Duet for cannibals

Summary: "Duet for cannibals: forms of cultural appropriation" is a publication based on a screening and discussion program bringing together a selection of works by contemporary artists and filmmakers as well as footage from the archive of the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam. The title "Duet for cannibals" is borrowed from a 1969 film directed by American author and critic Susan Sontag. Anthropologic and ethnographic institutions in European colonial power centres, like the former Colonial Institute of Amsterdam (nowadays the Royal Tropical Institute), were founded to study and exhibit the cultures of 'overseas people'. Their role was to appropriate, classify, and display cultural artifacts and sometimes even human beings.