Out of Brazil: The ethnographic collections at the Weltmuseum Wien

Lecture by Claudia Augustat as part of the lecture series Transatlantic Modernities between Brazil and Austria.

The Weltmuseum Wien has an extensive collection from Brazil, dating back to the marriage of Archduchess Leopoldine to the Portugese heir to the throne, Dom Pedro. In the course of the museum’s reopening in 2017, a separate gallery was dedicated to this collection. Under the title “An Austrian Mosaic of Brazil”, a new approach was developed that anchors the collections historically and gives space to indigenous voices. Two cooperation projects in particular played an important role. These are presented here.

Claudia Augustat studied Ethnology, Art History and Indian Art History at the University of Bonn and was awarded her PhD from the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main. In 2004 she became the curator for South American Collections at the Weltmuseum Wien. Her research focusses on Amazonian collections from the 19th century, material culture and cultural memory, on collaborative curatorship and the decolonization of museum praxis.