CAMERON ROWLAND

With the first institutional solo exhibition in Germany, the Museum für Moderne Kunst is honoring the artistic work of Cameron Rowland (born 1988 in the USA), whose objects and installations deal with the economic and legal legacy of slavery.

Rowland's work refers to the historical baggage attached to trivial everyday objects. When he spreads pearls or brass bracelets, so-called manillas, on the floor in his works, he is referring to the exploitation at the time of the slave trade: according to studies, up to a third of the people enslaved from Africa were exchanged for trinkets such as pearls and manillas. Rowland also incorporates the complex after-effects of slavery into his exhibition organization.