From 8 to 10 September 2025, the University of Bonn will host the Annual Conference of the Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung (Association for Provenance Research). Members and non-members of the association are welcome to register for the conference here.
The Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. (Association for Provenance Research) brings together over 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 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.
Where?
The conference will take place in the auditorium of the Kunstmuseum Bonn, Helmut-Kohl-Allee 2, 53113 Bonn, Germany. Further details about the venue can be found on the website of the Kunstmuseum: https://www.kunstmuseum-bonn.de/
When?
The conference will take place between Monday 8 September 2025 (from around midday) and Wednesday 10 September 2025 (until around 2 pm).
Organising Committee
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Julia Binter
Alma Hannig, M.A.
Prof. Dr. Karoline Noack
Prof. Dr. Matthias Weller
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Lucy Wasensteiner
Prof. Dr. Christoph Zuschlag
More information here.