Gert Chesi
In 1995 Gert Chesi founded the Haus der Völker in Schwaz, which is a museum for tribal art and ethnography.
[3] In the 1970s Chesi and Bert Breit point out the untenable conditions in the Tyrolean country girls' educational center St. Martin in Schwaz.
[8] In 1963 Gert Chesi became a freelancer for Österreichischer Rundfunk and organized the "Schwazer September," a music and art festival in Schwaz.
[10][11] For example, Chick Corea, Gilberto Gil, Lester Bowie, Gerry Hemingway, Meredith Monk, Dave Holland, Art Ensemble of Chicago, George Russel, Don Moye, Dino Saluzzi and Kelvyn Bell performed in Schwaz.
In 1964, Gert Chesi visited Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene, Gabon and stayed for eight months as an employee in the Lepradorf.
[15] From 1965 Gert Chesi wrote numerous publications on art and ethnographic topics in national media and the ORF.
In 1984, an exhibition curated by Fred Jahn was opened in the Munich Stadtmuseum, whose objects came from the Gert Chesi collection.
In 1988, the Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt acquired Chesi's Ethno Photo Archive consisting of 20,000 images dating back to 1973.
In 1992, Gert Chesi collaborated with the Völkerkundemuseum Rotterdam, in 1993 several exhibitions of ethnological objects took place in numerous museums and galleries.
[24] 2013 Exhibition and catalog showing children in context with spiritual rites[25][26] The motivation of his work as a collector and discoverer was the desire to make the cultures of the world known, to treat their achievements with respect, to promote the free spirit and to reach as many people as possible.
Chesi chose as location the premises of the meanwhile abandoned Tyrolean country girls' education center St. Martin in Schwaz, whose abuses he once discovered and documented.
[27] In an environment where the will of young girls was once broken, in 1995 Chesi opened the Haus der Völker, which stood for tolerance and international understanding.
Chesi deliberately chose an opulent selection of works in his exhibition concept in order to convey a holistic understanding of culture.
[28] The exhibits cover a period of 4,000 years and include African masks and statues, such as Asian bronzes and terracottas.
[29] Through the eccentric, sometimes incredibly familiar beauty of the exhibited pieces, the collection is intended to open the eyes of the observer to the achievements of the peoples of this world.
[31] The museum displayed objects from Africa and Asia that photographer and journalist Gert Chesi has collected for over 50 years.
In 2018, since basic donation-related conditions were not met and Gert Chesi was excluded by the new leadership, he withdrew completely from the museum.
On the occasion of Gert Chesi's 80th birthday, three events are taking place in his home town of Schwaz.
[41][42][43][44] On September 4, 2020, Gert Chesi presented his film Africa, Old Cults, New Perspectives to the public in VZ Jenbach.
The "Haus der Völker" took part in the exhibition "Cults, Artists, Kings" (German: "Kulte, Künstler, Könige") in the Castle Museum Linz and in the exhibition "Power of Women and Domination of Men" (German: "Frauenmacht und Männerherrschaft") in the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne.
Chesi traveled to West Africa to prepare the exhibition "2000 Years of African Ceramic" (German: "2000 Jahre afrikanische Keramik").
In 2005 Gert Chesi moved his main-residence to Togo and assigned the operative part of "Haus der Völker" to a new newly founded cultural association.
In 2010 the book Africa- Magicians of the Earth (German: Afrika – Die Magier der Erde) was published by Studienverlag.
After extensive trips to Thailand, India and Africa, he published Views of humankind in other worlds (German: Menschenbilder aus anderen Welten).
2013 Gert Chesi started to produce documentary films about tribal and religious traditions in Africa and Asia.
