Special exhibition on "Show Indians" at the Karl May Museum in Radebeul
The presentation of indigenous North Americans in Europe dates back to Columbus. From the end of the 19th century, the commercialisation of "Indians" in Germany reached its peak. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is regarded as the largest and most successful company of its kind. The show also made guest appearances in Dresden in 1890 and 1906. After that, circus companies such as Krone from Munich or Sarrasani from Radebeul followed in Buffalo Bill's footsteps and repeatedly brought indigenous people from North America to Germany for their own shows until the Second World War.The exhibition goes in search of traces of the shows and their indigenous performers that have remained here. It marks the start of the 2024 annual theme at the Karl May Museum entitled "Staged Indians", which aims to shed light on various aspects of representations and ideas of indigenous people in Germany with exhibitions, lectures and film evenings.
The exhibition runs from 8 December 2023 to 31 August 2024 and is organised in cooperation with the project "MENSCHENanSCHAUEN. Self and Other Stagings in Dresden Human Exhibitions" of the Stadtmuseum Dresden.
