Return into Pacific Lights: The German “Welterkunder” Georg Forster on Captain Cook’s Second Voyage and his Tongan “Curiosities”

This article focuses on two sorts of artifacts from Tonga that Georg Forster—a German naturalist and explorer of the late eighteenth century—translocated from Oceania to Europe. Forster traveled aboard Captain Cook’s ship Resolution on Cook’s second voyage (1772–75). During the voyage, Forster and his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, collected Pacific art objects, many of which made their way to Wörlitz, Germany. This collection was featured in a permanent exhibition (Georg Forster South Sea Exhibition) at the UNESCO World Heritage site at Wörlitz. A parallel installation celebrating Tongan art and material culture was established in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga. This article follows the migration of Tongan objects to Europe and the cooperation which arose between the artists, curators, and academics involved in the ‘Amui ‘i Mu‘a/Ancient Futures project and their counterparts in Germany. The resulting relationship was instrumental in the formation of the two exhibitions.