Professorship for Provenance Studies

Research and teaching in Provenance Studies, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Lynn Rother, focus on the areas of provenance, restitution, and critical museum and art market studies. In addition to examining the past, present, and future of provenance and its production, we focus primarily on the institutional frameworks in which art is collected and exhibited. Here, we are particularly interested in the role of museums in the acquisition, archiving, display, and circulation of objects. To answer these questions, we also use digital tools and explore their relevance for provenance research and art history.

To further the understanding of the discursive and theoretical landscape related to the circulation of artworks, we critically engage with contemporary and historical debates. Our art and cultural history perspective is equally informed by legal, sociological, and economic considerations. Here, we pay special attention to the exploration of contexts of injustice (national socialism, colonialism). We also investigate art market aspects from critical lenses, such as forgery, corruption, and discrimination.

An essential component of our teaching is the inclusion of partners and concrete research projects, such as the Provenance Lab and its experimental research. Within the framework of excursions, we not only visit exhibitions, but also archives, and the depots and restoration workshops of museums. The exchange with curators, provenance researchers, artists, and experts of the art market is thereby central.