Reports from the working groups Belgium and Luxemburg, France, Italy, Netherlands of the Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V. and Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung Switzerland e.V. and Collectif pluridisciplinaire de recherche de provenances followed by a joint discussion with Fenya Almstadt, Gitta Ho, Katharina Hüls-Valenti, Constance Jame, Sarah-Mae Lieverse, Joachim Sieber, Yasmina Zian
AG Belgium-Luxembourg, AG France, AG Italy, AG Netherlands, AG Switzerland / Swiss Association for Provenance Research (SAP), CPRP – Collectif pluridisciplinaire de recherche de provenances, Fenya Almstadt, Gitta Ho, Katharina Hüls-Valenti, Constance Jame, Sarah-Mae Lieverse, Joachim Sieber & Yasmina Zian
- When
- Thursday, 5 November, 09:30
- Where
- Sprengel Museum Hannover, Auditorium
- Panel
- Panel 17: The Potential of Arbeitskreis Länder Working Groups to Enhance Cross-Border Exchanges
Working Group Belgium and Luxembourg
The AG Belgien-Luxemburg (Belgium-Luxembourg Working Group) is currently being established, emerging from the BeLux Provenance Research Group initiated by Yasmina Zian in 2024.
The group unites provenance researchers examining the Belgian and/or Luxembourgish context during colonialism and/or the Nazi era. Given both countries’ geographical location and historical implications, close international cooperation is essential to address research needs around the mechanisms of cultural property dispossession, the actors involved, the histories of the objects concerned, and potential overlaps. The group therefore aims to build cross-border cooperation and exchange among researchers and integrate this more closely into the association’s Arbeitskreis structures. To this end, members will share experiences, compile available sources and resources, and organise future scientific events.
Working Group France
Founded in 2018 as one of the first country-specific working groups of the Arbeitskreis, the working group France provides a transnational forum for discussing France-specific issues in provenance research mainly in the context of Nazi-looted art and the French art market under German occupation (1933-1945). With around 40 members, regular online meetings, and a newsletter, it offers an established platform for professional exchange with curators, provenance researchers, art dealers, collectors and archivists mainly from Germany and France. Through its close cooperation with the French association of provenance researchers CPRPProvenances, it promotes international dialogue.
Working Group Italy
Since November 2022 the Working group Italy aims to foster research on the provenance of cultural objects unlawfully seized during the Nazi-Fascist era and colonialism in Italy. It currently counts ten active members from both German and Italian research institutions. As a central forum for Italian-specific provenance research, the working group actively promotes transnational knowledge exchange and expands its international network of scholars and professionals in the field (i.e. museums, auction houses, legal advisors as well as archives and libraries). Through the organisation of annual workshops, online lectures and seminars at Italian universities the working group raises successfully awareness in academia and the public.
Working Group Netherlands
Since September 2023, the AG Netherlands has served as a platform for dialogue and collaboration in provenance research, with a focus on the National Socialist era. Its mission is to connect communities, facilitate knowledge exchange, and raise awareness of the complex shared history between the Netherlands and Germany. Key goals include clarifying the development of provenance research in the Netherlands, strengthening exchange between Dutch and German researchers, and providing resources for research conducted in the Netherlands. To support this, AG Netherlands organizes monthly meetings, fosters research collaborations, and promotes a deeper understanding of the historical context of provenance research. The group currently consists of around twenty Dutch and German professionals from museums, libraries, archives, universities, the art market, and independent research.
Swiss Association for Provenance Research (SAP)
The Swiss Association for Provenance Research (SAP), founded in 2018 as the AG Switzerland and formally established in spring 2020, unites researchers from Swiss museums, archives, libraries, universities, and the art trade.
Its aims are to embed provenance research sustainably within collecting institutions and the art trade; to advance research into the art market, exhibition history, and museum policy in Switzerland; to build digital infrastructure; to ensure transparency; to anchor provenance research at universities; and to raise public and political awareness.
After more than six years, membership exceeds 120 people. This growing, academically broad network spans history, art history, ethnology, anthropology, archaeology, and conservation-restoration, alongside practitioners in art law and the art trade. The SAP publishes a regular newsletter and holds annual meetings, online and in person.
Collectif pluridisciplinaire de recherche de provenances
The Multidisciplinary Research Collective on Provenance (CPRProvenances) was founded in 2023 by a group of provenance researchers in France. The association now has about 100 members from 10 countries around the world, mainly speaking French. They aim to raise awareness of the challenges surrounding the traceability of cultural property and to facilitate the identification of competent provenance researchers by art market professionals and museums that may require their expertise in the field of nazi-looted art, colonial context and illicit traffic.