Work Series:
Himmelheber

This series deals with an ancient, presumably extinct civilization: the Himmelheber [Sky-Bearers]. The Himmelheber were first mentioned in the Field Notes from Africa (published 2004) by the German ethnologist of the same name, Hans Himmelheber (1908–2003). They are described as being a “repeatedly extinct and for unknown reasons and in an unknown way reborn civilization.” The scientist refers to a document from the 9th century, which he found during a 1933/34 expedition to a rock plateau near Abidjan (Ivory Coast). Himmelheber does not provide details of why he decided to give the civilization his own name—a provocative break with scientific practice—as well as why he concealed his find from the public for such a long time.

Since the publication of Hans Himmelheber’s book, scientists have compiled three further instances of this previously entirely unknown civilization. These include several artefacts used for cult purposes (golden helmets, rods, small figures; 1st century, Peru), a drawing (16th century, Jakarta), as well as video material (presented by Clara Mayer-Himmelheber, location and date of the recordings are unknown), which are meant to provide evidence of the existence of the Himmelheber in the 20th century. Today, these sparse clues are the only knowledge we have concerning this strange tribe.

Among the characteristics of the Himmelheber are a voluntary death by choice (always in autumn and at a river, always chaperoned by a companion, the “Tarung”) and a hermaphrodite priesthood that is meant to connect to the Dram, the “In-Between”, where the Gods and ancestors are located, a realm between life and death. The people of the Himmelheber have bequeathed objects of peculiar beauty, which are fully coated with a coarse, dark paste that consists of blood, bone meal, hair, urine and sperm (materials that are derived—and secreted—from the vulnerable, “open” body). Presumably, the paste had a ritual function and was (or still is) used by priests during religious acts.

The Himmelheber series was first presented comprehensively in the exhibition Stripping the Force at the Kunsthalle Bremen in 2018.