6th Day of Provenance Research on 10 April 2024 at the National Museums in Berlin
Press release from 03/27/2024
The International Day of Provenance Research will take place for the sixth time on 10 April 2024. This year, the SPK institutions will once again provide insights into the work of their provenance researchers
The National Museums in Berlin are offering guided tours on provenance research and the history of collections in the Collection of Classical Antiquities, the Museum of European Cultures and the Museum of Prints and Drawings. A round table discussion at the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Asian Art in the Humboldt Forum will be dedicated to post-colonial provenance research under the heading "power relations". In addition, the Central Archive of the National Museums, as well as the Berlin State Library, will be taking part in guided provenance walks through the historic centre of Berlin on the theme of "Tracing Provenance".
The Provenance Research Day is an initiative of the Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. (https://www.arbeitskreis-provenienzforschung.org/), which brings together 500 academics and experts worldwide who are dedicated to researching the provenance of cultural assets. The hashtag #TagderProvenienzforschung will accompany the day of action on X (formerly Twitter).
Guided tours #Searching for traces - a provenance walk
The Academy of Arts, the German Historical Museum, the Jewish Museum Berlin, the Berlin State Library, the Topography of Terror Foundation, the Humboldt University Library, the Central Archive of the National Museums and the Central and State Library have put together a joint programme for the 6th International Day of Provenance Research 2024. The programme includes four guided provenance walks. At various stations in today's Berlin cityscape, attention will be drawn to the still visible traces of colonial heritage and Nazi rule and the fates of persecuted people and institutions. Provenance researchers in the cultural institutions will provide insights into their challenging, exciting and multifaceted work.
When: 10 April 2024, 10:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00 (duration: approx. 60 minutes each)
Where: Please refer to the booking website for the meeting points
Who: Professional city guides and provenance researchers from the institutions
Limited number of participants. Participation is free of charge, registration is required at https://provenienz.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/ns-raubgut/spurensuche/
Collection of Classical Antiquities: On the trail of antiquities - an exhibition talk
How do archaeological objects end up in museums? This is a question that concerns provenance research. On the 6th Day of Provenance Research, we would like to introduce you to the work of the museum, which focuses on the circumstances of the discovery, acquisition and finally the transport of archaeological objects from their place of discovery to Berlin. How do researchers obtain the essential information? What role do the countries of origin of the artefacts play? How do we deal with the problematic provenance of an object?
Dr Martin Maischberger, Deputy Director of the Collection of Classical Antiquities, Dr Nicola Crüsemann and Stefanie Janke, provenance researchers in the "Legal - illegal?" project, and Birgit Sporleder, project coordinator, will report on current research projects and the latest findings during a tour of the Altes Museum and answer your questions.
When: Wed 10 April 2024 10:00, 13:00 and 16:00 (duration: approx. 60 minutes each)
Where: Altes Museum, Am Lustgarten, 10178 Berlin
Who: Dr Martin Maischberger, Dr Nicola Crüsemann, Stefanie Janke and Birgit Sporleder
Limited number of participants. An admission ticket for the Altes Museum is required for the events. Online booking is also required for participation at
Museum of European Cultures: Insight into two research projects
The Museum of European Cultures is currently researching the history of two collections, each of which is one of the most extensive in the German-speaking world: The Sámi collection, which has its roots in the Royal Prussian Kunstkammer and was systematically enlarged between 1880 and 1929 on behalf of the Museum für Völkerkunde (now the Ethnological Museum), and the collection from south-east Europe, which was primarily assembled by the photojournalist and later botanist Gustav-Adolf Küppers on several trips through the region in the 1930s.
On 10 April, employees of the Museum of European Cultures will present both projects in talks and a tour of the depot:
When: Wed 10 April 2024 14:00 - 16:00
Where: Museum of European Cultures, Arnimallee 25,
14195 Berlin
Who: Franka Schneider, Matthias Thaden, Maria Looks
Limited number of participants. An admission ticket for the Museum of European Cultures is required for the events. Participation also requires registration at: www.smb.museum/museen-einrichtungen/museum-europaeischer-kulturen/veranstaltungen/detail/einblick-in-zwei-aktuelle-projekte-2024-04-10-140000-141801/
Kupferstichkabinett: Curator's tour of the exhibition "Die gerettete Moderne. Masterpieces from Kirchner to Picasso"
In 1937, numerous works of classical modern art were also removed from the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett as part of the National Socialist "Degenerate Art" campaign. The curator at the time, Willy Kurth, bravely saved hundreds of prints from confiscation. The exhibition uses around 95 selected works to illustrate the individual prints and portfolios that were saved in 1937 and escaped loss.
During the tour, curator Dr Andreas Schalhorn will present selected acquisitions and thus provide an exciting insight into the history of the collection of the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett. Sven Haase, provenance researcher for European art at the Central Archive of the National Museums, will be available to answer questions on provenance research.
When: Wed 10 April 2024 16:30 (duration: approx. 60 minutes)
Where: Kupferstichkabinett, Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin
Who: Andreas Schalhorn, Sven Haase
Limited number of participants. Online booking is required for participation at: https://shop.smb.museum/#/product/event/109634?date=2024-04-10&date_id=259241&lang=de/
Humboldt Forum: machtIbeziehungen. Discussion on provenance research at the Ethnological Museum and Museum of Asian Art
Diplomatic gifts, historical acquisitions, war campaigns and situations of highly unequal power relations - the objects in the museum collections have been appropriated and brought to Berlin in very different ways. Postcolonial provenance research not only attempts to trace the exact changes of ownership and routes of objects on the basis of events, people and objects, but also to understand the historical contexts and critically scrutinise their asymmetrical power relations in cooperation with partners from all over the world.
On the 6th International Day of Provenance Research, we invite you to familiarise yourself with current projects on the basis of selected objects in the exhibitions. Provenance researchers from the Central Archive of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst will provide insights into the collaboration with international research partners and the joint examination of a divided past and future and offer the opportunity to enter into dialogue on questions and methods of postcolonial provenance research.
When: Wed 10 April 2024 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Where: Ethological Museum and Museum of Asian Art on the 2nd floor of the Humboldt Forum
Who: Kerstin Pannhorst, Sophia Bokop
Limited number of participants. Participation is free of charge. Details can be found here: https://www.humboldtforum.org/de/programm/termin/fuehrung/macht-beziehungen-126511/?event_date=20240410%2015%3A30
Permanent offers for the mediation of provenance research
Art, looting and restitution - a mediation programme on provenance research
When museums research the provenance of their artworks, it is not only ownership that comes to light, but also fates. With "Art, Looting and Restitution - Forgotten Life Stories", the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Bavarian State Painting Collections, together with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg and Bayerischer Rundfunk, commemorate the victims of persecution and expropriation under National Socialism. Who were these people, what happened to their works of art? And what does it mean to their descendants when a looted work of art is returned?
More at: https://kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de/
"The paths of art. TracesSearch". A new programme at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
A total of 21 works from the Alte Nationalgalerie's permanent exhibition will be presented. Each object has its own individual biography. The paths to the museum are varied and winding, rarely straightforward and sometimes bizarre, the traces are often blurred and must first be uncovered. Provenance researchers and curators work together to discover exciting details.
More at: https://kunst-raub-rueckgabe.de/2024/01/22/spurensuchen/
Provenance research on X (formerly Twitter)
If you would like to keep up to date with provenance research at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin on 10 April 2024 on Provenance Research Day and beyond, follow the X account (formerly Twitter) of the provenance research team at Dahlem: Postcolonial Provenance Research Dahlem @PPR_Dahlem
Provenance research on X (formerly Twitter)
If you want to keep up to date with provenance research at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin on 10 April 2024 on Provenance Research Day, but also beyond that, follow the X account (formerly Twitter) of the provenance research team Dahlem: Postcolonial Provenance Research Dahlem @PPR_Dahlem