Raining Blood: Photography and Arms Trafficking

Abdullah M. I. Syed
Weltmuseum Wien
Heldenplatz, 1010 ViennaTuesday: 10 am to 9 pmWednesday-Sunday: 10 am to 6 pm
Adult €16
Reduced admission €12
Kids / Teens under 19 freeWith Raining Blood: Photography and Arms Trafficking, the Weltmuseum Wien explores the international arms trade around 1900 and its legacy, which is closely linked to colonialism and imperialism. The exhibition uses the arms trade of this era as a lens through which to portray war and armed conflicts in all their profoundly ambivalent nature within the museum’s collection. 
 

About the Exhibition

Colonial rule was inextricably linked to military force and the use of firearms. At the same time, in many colonized territories, the colonial powers prohibited the possession and distribution of firearms in order to secure existing power structures and make resistance more difficult. Yet these bans were frequently circumvented: people smuggled weapons, replicated them, or manufactured them themselves. 

A particular contradiction is evident in the collections of the Weltmuseum Wien. Whilst the Photo Collection contains numerous images of people with modern firearms and, in some cases, arms dealers, the other collections of the museum primarily feature bows and arrows or ceremonial weapons from the nineteenth century. This uneven historical record contributes to perpetuating the colonial narrative of a supposed ‘passivity’ on the part of the oppressed. The exhibition highlights this paradox and re-examines weapons as instruments of both colonial violence and anti-colonial resistance within a museum context. ________________________ 
Historical photographs, objects from the collections of the Weltmuseum Wien, and international contemporary artworks and films enter into a critical dialogue, telling stories of global trade networks and colonial power structures, but also of protection, resistance, and the individual and societal consequences of armed violence. 

Raining Blood: Photography and Arms Trafficking presents weapons not only as instruments of destruction, but also within the complex interplay of power, protection, and resistance, thereby offering a critical perspective on the history preserved and narrated in a museum’s collections.Featuring contemporary artworks by Sama Alshaibi, Baptist Coelho, Jittagarn Kaewtinkoy, Elene Kajaia, Peter Kennard, Minouk Lim, Cristina Lucas, Michael McGarry, Tiara Roxanne, Jakkai Siributr, and Abdullah M.I. Syed.
Curated by Hanin Hannouch
September 29, 2026
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