18 October 2022

SPURENSICHERUNG. Die Geschichte(n) hinter den Werken
PROVENANCE RESEARCH

Exhibition, 29 October 2022 – 22 January 2023
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin

Invitation to the Press Talk and Press Preview
Thursday, 27 October 2022, 11 am
Exhibition halls open at 10 am

With
Werner Heegewaldt, Director of the Archives, Akademie der Künste
Doris Kachel, curator
Anna Schultz, curator
Marion Neumann, head of KUNSTWELTEN, the Akademie der Künste’s education and outreach programme

Please send your accreditation by email to presse@adk.de 

Over the past 20 years, provenance research has been increasingly discussed. Its social, cultural and political agenda is highly valued. The Provenance Research exhibition presents selected examples from the Archives’ collections to introduce the challenging, detective-like (working) methods of this specialised field of research to a wide audience. It allows us to gain new, more varied perspectives on well-known artworks and demonstrates that provenance research involves much more than clarification and rectifying historical injustices. It also promises to increase knowledge.

The exhibition addresses a plethora of aspects surrounding the history of ownership ranging from the identification of Nazi-looted art that is now part of the Akademie’s holdings to the ongoing search for artworks from the collection of the Prussian Academy of Arts that were lost during the Second World War. The efforts of the GDR state apparatus to take possession of valuable art objects or entire collections is another subject, which is increasingly playing a role in provenance research. Among the works presented in the exhibition are manuscripts by the philosopher Walter Benjamin, art critic Alfred Kerr’s collection confiscated by the Gestapo, sketches by Max Liebermann and Carl Blechen, and Otto Nagel’s painting collection. Contemporary artist and filmmaker Marianna Christofides engages with the objects and topics of the exhibition in a mixed media installation.

An events programme with panel discussions, diverse educational offers, as well as a publication with in-depth essays and object biographies accompany the exhibition.

Exhibition Information
SPURENSICHERUNG. Die Geschichte(n) hinter den Werken
PROVENANCE RESEARCH
29 October 2022 – 22 January 2023
Opening: Friday, 28 October, 7 pm
Press Preview: Thursday, 27 October, 11 am
Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin, Tel. +49(0)30 200 57–10 00
Tue – Sun, 11 am – 7 pm
Admission € 9/6. Free admission for visitors under 19, on Tuesdays after 3 pm and the first Sunday of the month.

www.adk.de/spurensicherung 

Press Contacts
on behalf of the Akademie der Künste
ARTEFAKT Kulturkonzepte, Celia Solf and Alexander Flöth
Tel. +49(0)30 440 10–688, Mobile +49(0)171 432 532 8, mail@artefakt-berlin.de