'Human Zoo' due to open in Norway

A proposal made by the artists Mohamed Ali Fadlabi and Lars Cuzner for the Norway 200th constitution anniversary was met with criticism by anti-racist organizations. The artists say that they want to “highlight a forgotten event in Norwegian history” by re-enacting “The Congo Village”, one of the main attractions from the centenary in 1914 in which 80 Africans were put on display, living in cabins with palm roofs surrounded by African artifacts.

The “human zoo” was then visited by 1.5 million people. The artists, who were both born outside Norway, said that they only found out about the “human zoo” three years ago and were surprised that the native population also had little to no knowledge about it, given it's popularity back in 1914.

“Not being from this country, naturally, we assumed that this was common knowledge among natives, so, in an interest to learn more about the general consent on the exhibition, we started asking around. As it turned out pretty much no one we talked to had ever heard about it (even if they had heard of human zoos in other countries). Given how popular the exhibition was the widespread absence of at least a general knowledge was surprising. It is hard to understand the mechanisms of how something could be wiped from the collective memory.” they said.

Public Art Norway (Koro) offered financial support for this project and the artists asked volunteers to participate as “extras”. “We welcome anybody from anywhere in the world who believes in the importance of the discussion about colonialism, the evolution of racism, equality, etc”, artists said.

The exhibition is due to open in Oslo on 15 May.