What is a zombie? A monster? A character from the movies? Or something else? What do zombies have to do with Haiti?

Zombies are everywhere: on cinema and television screens, in comics, in games, in our everyday language. What do they tell us about ourselves, and above all, where do they come from? This exhibition traces the origins of zombies and invites visitors to take a fresh look at what has been said and written about these undead.

The homeland of zombies is the Caribbean island of Haiti. Before the zombie became a global figure in horror films, comics, and games, the term referred to a state connected to the Vodou religion here. It emerged from the cultural blending of West and Central African religions, pre-Hispanic belief systems, and Catholic influences during the colonial era.

In Haiti, the term zombie primarily refers to a feared being, an undead figure of Haitian Vodou — a person condemned to labor through the use of drugs as punishment for a serious crime, showing strong parallels to the enslavement of people.

Do these zombies really exist, or do they only serve to stoke fear in society through the threat of a terrible fate? What realities lie behind the narratives about zombies: religious beliefs, jurisprudence, power, social anxieties? This exhibition approaches these original perspectives.