The International Professional Association for Provenance Research (Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e. V.) brings together almost 600 international researchers and experts dedicated to researching the provenance of cultural objects. Our members work in collecting institutions (such as museums, libraries and archives), in the art trade, the legal system, in academia or as freelancers.
The host for this year’s annual conference is the University of Bonn. The University of Bonn is one of the largest and most renowned teaching and research institutions in Germany. In summer 2019 it was named one of eleven German Excellence Universities. In the last years, Bonn has also established itself as a transdisciplinary centre in the fields of provenance research and restitution. The ‘Research Centre for Provenance Research, Art and Cultural Property Law’, founded in 2018, brings together the activities of three professorships in the fields of law and art history. The research project ‘Restatement of Restitution Rules for Nazi-Confiscated Art’ (2019-2024) created a basis for the reform of restitution practice in Germany. Provenance research projects have been carried out both in the University Collections and in the University and State Library in Bonn. The Global Heritage Lab, founded in 2022, has set itself the goal of rethinking heritage from global and historical perspectives.
The 2025 conference will focus on transdisciplinary cooperation and its potential for provenance research. The aim is to bring together the various disciplines in which provenance research is practiced (art history, cultural and social anthropology, archaeology, history, law, mineralogy, palaeontology, zoology, botany, medicine, etc.), and to unite the various historical contexts of injustice (i.e. cultural and collection material from colonial contexts, cultural property confiscated as a result of Nazi persecution, and cultural property confiscation in the Soviet occupation zone and the GDR), bringing them into productive dialogue. Alongside insights into current research, we expressly welcome contributions from origin communities and claimants, from the areas of power and dependency research, and from activists working in this field.
The conference will focus on the following three topics:
(1) Provenance Research: Methods and Discourses
(2) Restitution and Beyond: Norms, Relational Ethics and Impact
(3) Communication and Politics
Based on these main themes, we welcome contributions exploring the following ideas / questions:
(1) Provenance Research: Methods and Discourses
(a) The concept of "contexts of injustice": understanding and sharpening this definition from transdisciplinary perspectives. How can "contexts of injustice" be determined?
(b) New and transdisciplinary methods for provenance research (e.g. art market research, materials research, restoration, digitisation and AI, etc.). Reports from practice and research
(2) Restitution and Beyond: Norms, Relational Ethics and Impact (tandem contributions are expressly welcomed)
(a) How can standards / regulations for restitution be developed and implemented?
(b) How do we shape relationships with research partners, communities and private individuals? What are the – sometimes divergent – goals (reparations, reconciliation, healing, coming to terms with history, etc.)? How can different expectations be bridged?
(c) What is the significance of restitution? What significance, what history do the objects have after restitution? What innovative and individual solutions are there beyond restitution?
(3) Communication and Politics
(a) Where and how do we communicate our work? Are there new approaches and ideas for communicating research results in museums, universities, in the art trade, in urban areas (analogue/digital)?
(b) How can we stand up for provenance research? How can we better advocate for provenance research at the political level? How can we anchor our work in the public eye in the long term? How do we convey the relevance of our work in the light of current political developments?
Contributions:
Proposed contributions should last 15 minutes and provide a basis for broader discussions.
Please send your abstract (max. 300 words) in German or English together with a short biographical note (in a PDF file) to provenienzforschung@uni-bonn.de by 28 February 2025.
The Conference will be held in English.
As part of the topic area "Provenance Research: Methods and Discourses", a poster session is also planned. We invite you to present new findings in the field of provenance research in the form of a poster presentation. The posters will be exhibited throughout the conference.
To propose a poster, send a summary of your project (300 words) in German or English together with a short biographical note (summarised in a PDF file), also by 28 February 2025, to provenienzforschung@uni-bonn.de.
The costs of the speakers and moderators will be partially or fully reimbursed based on the funding secured.
The organisers would like to thank the Association’s “Working Group Colonial Provenances” for providing the impetus for this year’s conference in Bonn.