Ronald Kolb
Post-Exhibitionary Practice

Decolonial Currents in Arts and Curating: From Postcolonial Critique to Decolonial Action
for the Winter School 2026, Centre for Continuing Education, ZHdK, Zurich, Switzerland

This Winter School explored the shift from postcolonial critique to decolonial action in contemporary curatorial and artistic practices.
Rooted in the concept of the contact zone (Pratt/Clifford), we will investigate the museum as a site of negotiation, conflict, and potential repair – a place where historically and geographically separated subjects come into asymmetric contact, and where relational, embodied, and collective forms of knowledge and healing can emerge. With a focus on transculturation, the course provides an overview of the current discourse, while also critically discussing the risks of essentialist notions of identity, culture, and belonging.

We visited director Alice Hertzog and Rohit Jain at Völkerkundemuseum Zürich, Daniel Morgenthaler, Helmhaus Zurich, and director Annette Bhagwati, Museum Rietberg.