Hidden Paths and Emerging Networks
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| free admission |
| This event is open to the public and will be conducted in German, French, and English with simultaneous translation and broadcasted in livestream. |
| Mechanical Arena in the Foyer |
| Part of: Guestroom |
On the 7th International Day of Provenance Research, the Humboldt Forum invites leading academics and experts working at the interface of provenance, restitution and museum practice. You can look forward to highly topical discussions that will not only shed light on the latest findings, but also offer in-depth insights into the challenges and opportunities of research in this field.
Provenance research is far more than simply tracing object biographies. It scrutinises colonial entanglements, uncovers mechanisms of translocation and poses urgent questions about our contemporary responsibility in dealing with cultural assets. What new insights emerge when institutions, academics and affected communities around the world enter into dialogue? This event offers a unique platform to explore these questions in depth and discuss how innovative research approaches are changing the museum landscape for good.
The keynote speaker is Hamady Bocoum, Senegalese archaeologist and former director of the Museum of Black Civilisations in Dakar.
The focus is on three pioneering international research projects funded by the Franco-German Research Fund on the Provenance of Cultural Objects from sub-Saharan Africa at Centre Marc Bloch:
- PROBAMA – A look at the acquisition practices of German and French research missions in present-day Mali (1880-1914).
- ReMatriation – The symbolic reconnection of objects to their communities of origin, with a special focus on gender-specific aspects.
- ProHumStra – An investigation into the provenance of human remains and their colonial entanglements in German-French border regions.
After the project presentations, the provenance research team of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz will reflect on how these innovative approaches characterise and further develop the work on the objects in the Humboldt Forum.
Take advantage of this unique opportunity to gain exclusive insights, engage in dialogue with experts and actively participate in the discussion. Contribute your questions, be inspired and help shape the dialogue!
A joint program of of the Humboldt Forum and the Franco-German Research Fund on the Provenance of Cultural Objects from sub-Saharan Africa at Centre Marc Bloch, in collaboration with the Ethnologisches Museum, the Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Zentralarchiv of the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
A livestream in Zoom is available.
Meeting ID: 879 8099 3346 / Code: yL21NX
ReMatriation
PRovenances d’Objets BAmana du Soudan Français (MAli) – PROBAMA
ProHum Stra
Participants of the Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin
Sophia Bokop is a social and cultural anthropologist and involved as a provenance researcher in the project The Collaborative Museum at the Ethnologisches Museum and Museum für Asiatische Kunst at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Together with international partners, she researches selected collections and their contexts of acquisition, appropriation and translocation as part of collaborative, transdisciplinary projects.
Christine Howald is a provenance researcher specialising in art from Asia. Among others, she is leading a joint project involving seven German museums in cooperation with the Palace Museum in Beijing to research the objects that entered the collections in the course of the suppression of the “Boxer Rebellion”. The historian is deputy director of the Central Archive, which manages and coordinates provenance research for the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Ilja Labischinski studied Ancient American Studies, Anthropology and History of the Americas in Bonn, Berlin and Madrid. Since 2019, he has been working as a provenance researcher for collections from colonial contexts at the National Museums. The focus of his work is the reappraisal of the contexts of appropriation of human remains in the collections of the Ethnological Museum.
Kristin Weber-Sinn is a historian specialising in museum culture and practice in colonial and post-colonial Tanzania and the appropriation policies of museums in Germany and East Africa during European colonial rule. She has been part of the provenance research team at the Zentralarchiv of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin since 2019. She is co-curator of the exhibition Histories of Tanzania, which has been on display at the Humboldt Forum since 2024.
Ohiniko M. Toffa studied German and Cultural Studies at the University of Lomé. His PhD Thesis at the University of Bremen was on the German Colonial and Mission History in the former colony Togo. He started as Provenance Researcher at the Central Archive of the State Museums in Berlin in January, 2024 coming from Saxony, He is currently conducting some researches on Colonial and Mission collections from Togo and Cameroon with special considerations for the postcolonial theorization of the provenances.
