FASZINATION «INDIANS»
European Imagination of Native Americans through the Centuries

March 22 – October 30 2012

Commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the death of Karl May, the famous German writer of «American Indian» ­novels, the NONAM presents a special exhibition. Karl May, the father of «Winnetou», influenced millions of European readers throughout the 20th century, drawing on popular fantasies about Native Americans that still linger on in the European mindset.

The exhibition centers on the stereotypical American Indian and European fantasies about this enigmatic figure. A chronological section will explain the development of the European image of the Indian and cast some light on historical processes and important persons. Since the days of first contact, Europeans have ascribed an image of «wildness» to the indigenous peoples of North America. Down the centuries, the image of the wild Indian has been used to various ends by Europeans and Americans. Some employed it to criticize aspects of European society, to others it was a justification for conquering the New World and subduing its native inhabitants.
The second part of the exhibition is dedicated to material aspects; to the commodity «Indian». Selected from two Swiss private collections, an abundance of objects of western mass-consumption toying with the image of the Indian are on display.
On a sensuous level, the scope of objects will present what «the Indian» means to western society in the 20th and 21st century.