2024: Icons as objects of trade in Ethiopia and the South Caucasus
In spring 2024, the Department of Culture of the City of Frankfurt am Main approved a grant for the realisation of the project at the Frobenius Institute in cooperation with the Icon Museum Frankfurt.As part of the project, research partners in Ethiopia, Israel and Georgia are currently collecting data and objects that will be shown to the general public in exhibitions at the Frobenius Institute and the Icon Museum Frankfurt.
The collected objects are mainly everyday icons and religious paraphernalia, which are bought cheaply by tourists or believers for everyday use at stalls, in small shops or in bazaars. We try to understand the contexts of these objects by collecting data on their production, distribution and use.
Both the objects and the associated research data will then be shared between the Frobenius Institute and the Icon Museum and integrated into the respective collections and archives.
The aim of the project is also to involve the Ethiopian and Georgian diaspora communities in Frankfurt in our work, e.g. through a cultural programme accompanying the exhibitions.
