Image: Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Berlin
The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is showing 'The Song of the Germans', a sound installation by Nigerian artist Emeka Ogboh, through July 27, 2026. According to the museum’s July e-newsletter, the work is installed in the Video Gallery and is presented as a continuous sound composition built from recordings of African immigrants singing the German national anthem in their native languages.
Ogboh, who is described in the museum material as Berlin-based, first premiered the piece at the 2015 Venice Biennale. The installation features ten singers using Bamum, Duala, Ewondo, Igbo, Kongo, Lingala, Moore, Sango, Twi and Yoruba, and the soundtrack is structured so that one voice begins before others join at different moments, gradually forming a full chorus. The museum describes the work as exploring immigration and integration through sound and multilingual performance.
The installation sits within a newsletter that also lists other exhibitions and public programs, but 'The Song of the Germans' is the item singled out in the museum’s closing-soon section. Its presentation in the Video Gallery gives the work a dedicated display context inside the Kemper Art Museum’s on-view program. The museum’s newsletter identifies the venue of the installation simply as the Video Gallery.
The work’s title and subject matter connect a national anthem to the lived experience of immigrants, using collective voice rather than imagery to shape the piece. By recording the anthem in multiple languages, the installation turns a familiar civic song into a layered soundscape, with the individual singers joining at different moments until the composition reaches a fuller ensemble.
The museum’s July newsletter also notes that the Kemper Art Museum will be closed from July 28 through August 14 in preparation for fall exhibitions. The same email says the museum is always free and includes information for teacher and school visits, while the exhibition listing for 'The Song of the Germans' remains on view until July 27, 2026.
Based on the museum’s published material, the installation can be heard in the Video Gallery through its July 27 close date, with the continuously played composition remaining in place as part of the museum’s summer program.
