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 host for this year’s annual conference is the University of Bonn. 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.

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/ 

The conference will take place between Monday 8 September 2025 (from around midday) and Wednesday 10 September 2025 (until around 2 pm).

The conference language is English. 

Further details regarding the programme will appear here in due course. 

All tickets are currently sold out!

The conference is open to members and non-members of the Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung – you do not need to be a member of the Arbeitskreis to attend. 

Speakers at the conference (listed in the provisional program available for download on this page) do not require a ticket.

The link for the online participation will be sent on the 5th of September.

Tickets are only available online from 15.07.2025 - 04.09.2025 via the following link:

The organising committee of the 2025 conference at the University of Bonn comprises:

Prof. Dr. Christoph Zuschlag

The conference in Bonn is generously supported by:

• The Arbeitskreis Provenienzforschung e.V.
• The Transdisciplinary Research Area „Present Pasts” of the University of Bonn, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWK) as part of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments
• The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung
• The Kunstmuseum Bonn
• Kunsthaus Lempertz KG
• We are also grateful to Dr. Dieter Groll for his support