FOR FRIEDERIKE MOESCHEL, IT’S SOON TIME TO SAY ‘AUF WIEDERSEHEN’

As her four-year engagement as Director, Goethe-Institut Lagos comes to an end, Friederike Moeschel, who is set to leave Nigeria next month, offers insights into her cultural experiences in the country in an interview with Yinka Olatunbosun
INTERVIEW

“It was an amazing time. I learned a lot,” Friederike Moeschel said, as she reclined in her chair in the new breezy Goethe-Institut office in Victoria Island, Lagos. In the past four years, she had asserted her presence at major cultural events in Lagos. Apart from being very active on her social media pages, she has remained attentive to the art community, whether she is in or out of Nigeria.

Moeschel is always curious about different aspects of Nigeria’s cultural life and art institutions. Hence, before arriving in Nigeria, she made some findings about her destination. Lagos, she was told, is a leading cultural destination in Africa. Of course, she came in dressed in light-texture clothings. Compared to the average weather in Bonn where she hails from, it feels like summer-all year round in Lagos.

Whenever conversations swirled around archiving and documentation, her interest was piqued. Two years ago, she backed a workshop that focused on museum reform. Perhaps owing to the way museums are positioned in Nigeria, any one would imagine that a discourse about museum would be boring. On the contrary, the session was like BBC’s ‘Hard Talk’. The representatives of National Museum that were present at the workshop were put on the hot seat with the barrage of difficult questions posed by members of the audience about how the institution is still operating an archaic management system in a highly-digitalised world.

That sort of openness is one of the things that Moeschel will miss about Nigeria. “I will miss the openness of the people,” she says. “And thank God, in Lagos, you don’t have a language barrier so it is very easy to adapt. For me as a German, it was very easy to talk to people and Nigerians always say when they don’t want something. They are also very blunt. It makes it easy to adapt. And I never had any fears coming here. I have spent four years and I have never had any experience where I had felt threatened or unsafe.”

When COVID-19 struck in 2020, there was panic in the diplomatic circles. News about the closure of the airports forced many expatriates to return to their homeland. Moeschel had to leave for Germany, suspending many planned projects in the process.

“Last year was a big challenge for everyone,” she reminisced. “When I look back, it is something to delete from memory because one was not able to do a lot of things. We tried to do some things but in all, it was a very positive time here for me. I really do hope that in spite of all the challenges right now, the cultural scene would flourish and go back to where it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Next year, Goethe-Institut will mark its 60th anniversary globally. Although Moeschel will be long gone by then, she has reasons to celebrate now that as a representative of one of the most enduring international cultural institutions in the world. One of her projects centred on documenting Yoruba gods and goddesses is the book, titled Who’s Who in the Yoruba Pantheon, has been released. Written by Peju Akande, Toni Kan and Jahman Anikulapo, with illustrations by Abdulkareem Baba Aminu, the book targets young audience between age 25 and 40 who are curious about Yoruba culture and religion. Moeschel relives the circumstances that birthed the idea of writing the book, tracing it to an event in Lagos.

“It started more than two years ago at an event. I think the topic was architectural heritage and how the Brazilian buildings are deteriorating and when they are gone, they are gone. You can try to rebuild but it will not be the real thing. For us, the starting point to discuss this is that when you are not aware of your own culture and history, then you will wonder why you should take care of those things. It is not part of your own cultural DNA. If you don’t have this knowledge, you cannot protect it and then we continued talking about the influence of the religion on culture. Culture and religion have always been closely related. The publishing house, Iwalewa Books is very experienced in publishing cultural books. So, I am really proud of the project because it is an example of Nigerian-German collaboration. We have lots of Yoruba in diaspora. This book is our baby. This is a first publication that targets young audience. We have had other publications done with support from Goethe Institut.”

The book features details about orisas including Ogun, Sango, Oya, Oba, Obatala, Orunmila, Esu, Soponna, Olokun, Aje, Osanyin, Yemoja, Osun, Moremi and Osoosi. As at the time the book project commenced, she didn’t know that her next destination after her assignment in Nigeria would be Brazil. With this research into Yoruba culture, Moeschel felt prepared to embrace yet another cultural life.

“I have an advantage of knowing about the Yoruba cultural heritage,” she enthuses. “So, I am quite confident that a lot of things that I learnt here, I can also take with me to Brazil and also, maybe, help to strengthen some connections. I am looking forward to using the knowledge that I have gained in Lagos.”

Already fluent in English, German and French, Moeschel is looking forward to learning Portuguese in Salvador.
While reflecting on the various aspects of Nigerian arts and culture, she acknowledges the global image of Nigerian music, visual arts and literature. In her opinion, the fashion industry is one aspect that needs more visibility across the globe just as much as the clamour for the return of stolen artefacts.

“Before I came to Nigeria, I went to bookshops in London and Germany. You can find nearly all well-known Nigerian authors there and some are translated into German. And in music, the latest Grammy award in Best Global music went to Burna boy. Nigeria is a big name in music.

“I think it is the histo-cultural heritage is being forgotten especially by the younger generation who are unaware of their pre-colonial heritage. This discussion includes bringing back artefacts from museums in the global north and also put these topics on platforms so that it is not just a discussion amongst the intellectual elites but also the people of Nigeria to realise what these mean for them through the development of new curriculum.”

For her, it is one thing to have a great idea and another to motivate people to come with you on the journey towards actualising the dream and achieving sustainability. On the heels of the attack on City Hall that housed the former Goethe Institut office, in the violent attacks targeted at properties owned by Lagos State after the protests last year, Moeschel said Goethe-Institut Nigeria has made arrangements to make German language learning easy for Nigerian audience through its online classes. Therefore, location is no longer a barrier to anyone who seeks to learn German.

While awaiting her replacement, Dr. Nadine Siegert who currently serves at the Goethe Institut in Johannesburg, South Africa, Moeschel is focused on rebuilding Goethe-Institut Nigeria though on a temporary site at the moment. However, there is one thing she will certainly not miss about Nigeria.

“I will definitely not miss the traffic,” she said. “It steals so much time from you. It is something I always regret. Sometimes, it would be so nice to have three or four meetings in a day but it is not possible. So, sitting in the car for hours is not easy. Unfortunately, I do not belong to the category of people who can work while in traffic because I always felt sick. I hope the government will, in future, find more possibilities for public transportation.”