Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) has long been one of the leading institutions in Central Europe dedicated to presenting global art in a contemporary and critically engaged manner. Originally gifted by the United States to West Berlin as a congress centre in 1957, the building’s iconic hyperbolic paraboloid shell was intended to symbolise openness and innovation. In the context of the Cold War, however, it primarily embodied the close political relationship between the United States and West Germany. Following German reunification, HKW gradually transformed into a symbol of intercultural exchange, positioning itself as a bridge between East and West as well as between the Global North and the Global South. 

Introducing our external collaborator Irene Appeaning Addo: On postcolonial architecture, urban inequality, and Ghana-Czechoslovakia collaboration in the 1960s — Czechs and the Colonial World. Art, Design and Visual Culture since 1848