Call for Papers | conference 2024 “Photography and Provenance Research” (working title)

The meaning and role of photographic images as key sources, as well as material subjects of provenance research in their own right, constitute a relevant and controversial field that has however only occasionally been discussed to date. Among expert provenance researchers, the significance and the quality of written sources and archival material are subjects of intense discussion. In contrast, a critical approach to photographic sources is less developed.

In addition, there is need for an open discussion across the different areas of provenance research about how to handle photographic images that illustrate sensitive objects or situations.

The considerable opportunities, but also the challenges and hazards involved in digital processing and manipulation of photographs, or their automated processing and analysis, require critical discussion in the field of provenance research. For this purpose, it could be productive to reflect the current state of debate in the areas of image and media science to a greater extent in provenance research.

Papers on this wide subject area - only briefly touched upon in this summary – will be discussed at the annual conference of the German Lost Art Foundation in 2024. The event is scheduled for 18 and 19 April 2024 for personal attendees at Leipzig University Library. We invite provenance researchers, staff of museums and memorial places, scholars of cultural and visual studies, ethnologists, historians, image historians and other interested researchers to propose contributions to this event.

For example, the following subjects would be of particular, though not exclusive, interest:

• How are photographic images used and queried as sources for provenance research?
• What would constitute a critical approach to photographs that reflects their internal bias?
• Which specific methods are required for provenance research applied to collections of photographic images that were seized or sold under duress?
• Are there differences in the approach to photographs in the various contexts of seizure and loss which are addressed by provenance research?
• How could photographs as sensitive objects or as illustrations of sensitive objects and subjects be appropriately handled by provenance researchers?
• How to find a balance between potentially conflicting needs for transparency on the one hand and sensitivity on the other?
• Could analogue or digital edits of photographs or photographic staging endanger provenance research findings?
• Do photographs still retain validity at all in view of virtually unlimited powers of manipulation?
• How could methods of digital analysis and other innovative techniques be employed to make photographic sources accessible for provenance research?

The basic conference language is German, but English talks are welcome.

Please send your proposal (max. 400 words) and your short CV (max. 250 words) by 18 June 2023 to conference@kulturgutverluste.de.

Questions or comments should also be directed to this address.