“We want to delve more deeply into the objects' histories“
20.09.2017“We want to delve more deeply into the objects' histories“
How do objects come to be in museum collections? The need to ascertain whether a painting is Nazi-looted art or not has led to the development of a research routine during the past few years. Museums also investigate the origin of ethnographic objects, but in doing so they face other challenges.
In the video, SPK President Hermann Parzinger explains why provenance research in ethnological collections is a key issue for the Humboldt Forum – and what it involves doing.
A question for ... Hermann Parzinger: Why is provenance a key issue for the SPK?
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Transcript
The question of provenance research in ethnographic collections is of relevance to many ethnological museums in Germany and other parts of Europe. For them, it is a relatively new phenomenon, a new field of study. Provenance research in the area of ethnological museums is also subject to other parameters than those applicable to Nazi-looted art, for example. Those too have to be established. This work is certainly still at a very early stage. As far as the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Foundation) and its Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) are concerned, however, I must say that we have been doing research into provenance for many years, in relation to the Humboldt Forum. For two years in particular, we have been running a major research project on the precise origins of our possessions from the former German East Africa (now Tanzania). This is an externally funded project, with a grant from a German business foundation, since we cannot afford to finance it from our own budget. There we want to delve even more deeply into the objects' histories. That costs money, but it has to be done. Up to now, we have done all that was possible, but we would like to do more. We are willing to listen to criticism in this respect, but it's not up to us. The museums – not only those in Berlin, but all the others too – who are responsible for collections of this kind in Germany, must be put in a position where they are able to carry out this type of research.
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