Inside Archives: Interventions on Leni Riefenstahl’s Nuba Work

The hybrid exhibition and discursive project Inside Archives stems from a critical examination of Leni Riefenstahl’s “Nuba work” by students enrolled in the Art in Context Master’s programme at Berlin University of Arts (UdK).

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  Khalid Shatta, Stranger Constructing Culture, 2026, Acryl auf Leinwand, 160 x 207 cm

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  Fotografischer Nachlass Riefenstahl im Depot des Museums für Fotografie, Nuba-Dias in Aufbewahrungsboxen, 2026

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  Mauricio Candela, Fragments of Living Culture through Refracted Voices, 2026, Projekt-Skizze

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  Camilo Correa-Costa, Visuelles Rätsel zur primitivistischen Befangenheit I, 2026, digitalisierter 6x6 cm Analogfilm

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  Patricio Trim, System of Exposure, 2026, Multimedia-Installation

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  Jihye Kim, I see you, because I have eyes, 2026, Performance mit Live-Projektion

During her travels to the Nuba Mountains in Sudan in the 1960s and 1970s, Riefenstahl photographed and filmed local people and their culture.

Inside Archives showcases a variety of media — installations, video and photographic projects, and written and audio works — developed by the UdK students and artists from Sudan. The project has been conceived as a dynamic, participatory process involving research, interviews, discussions and artistic practice, framed as a dialogue between art, science and lived experiences.

Hailing from diverse global backgrounds, the exhibiting artists bring their own stories and perceptions to the project, seeking to reinterpret Riefenstahl’s images in order to subvert their power, expose their layers of meaning, and explore new forms of storytelling. Workshops, interventions, readings and other educational formats offer further insights into how museums approach Riefenstahl’s work. Through artistic perspectives, the project aims to create new narratives, strengthen networks and help visitors engage with the challenging subject matter of the Nuba photographs, situated between the idealised stereotypes of the past and critical vantage point of today.

Participating Artists

Abdalsalam Alhaj, Camilo Correa-Costa, hajooj kuka, Jihye Kim, Jule Roehr, Khalid Shatta, Kodikodi, Mauricio Candela, Pascale Espinosa, Patricio Trim, Sally Frey, Sara-Hiruth Zewde, Schokofeh Kamiz and Yasmin Balai

Curators

Inside Archives forms part of an artistic-academic seminar at the Institute for Art in Context at Berlin University of the Arts, led by Julia Grosse (Art in Context) and Katrin Peters-Klaphake (Deutsches Historisches Museum). The exhibition project is curated by Julia Grosse and Katrin Peters-Klaphake in collaboration with Ludger Derenthal (Kunstbibliothek [Art Library], Photography Collection).

A special exhibition of the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in cooperation with the Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Runtime: Fri, 22/05/2026 to Sat, 06/06/2026

Takes place here:

• Museum für Fotografie - Helmut Newton Stiftung