Ikunde. Barcelona, colonial metropole

Taking the creation of Ikunde in the middle of a tropical jungle as a common thread, the exhibition reviews the complex and ambiguous connection between Barcelona and Guinea. Starting from a critical museographic perspective, the exhibition, the first dedicated to what could be called “uncomfortable memory”, explores a story of cultural domination and the role that ethnology played in it.

From the end of the 19th century, Barcelona's wealthy industrial activity gave rise to major investments in Guinea, a Spanish colony. As the colonial enterprise became established, the exploitation of the territory's riches led to the creation of a network of colonists and projects, some of which were scientific.

Consequently, in 1959, the centre at Ikunde was created, only a few kilometres from Bata, the capital of continental Guinea. It was built thanks to the personal initiative of Antoni Jonch—the then director of Barcelona Zoological Park — and August Panyella— the director of the Museu Etnològic—, and run by Jordi Sabater Pi. Ikunde supplied a large proportion of Barcelona City Council’s zoological, ethnological, archaeological and botanical specimens, and it is a key institution for understanding some essential features of the network of cultural facilities that the city currently enjoys.

Taking the creation of Ikunde in the middle of a tropical jungle as a common thread, the exhibition reviews the complex and ambiguous connection between Barcelona and Guinea.