German Lost Art Foundation approves around 685,000 Euros for five research projects on colonial contexts in the first application round 2021
During the colonial period, objects from all over the world arrived in Germany. Even today, cultural objects from former colonial regions are still in museums or university collections – it is often unclear whether they were exchanged, bought or looted. In addition, there are also human remains in the institutions that were brought to Europe, for example, for the purpose of anthropological so-called "racial research."
In order to clarify where and under what circumstances the objects and human remains came into German collections, the board of the German Lost Art Foundation in Magdeburg has now approved five research applications in the area of "Colonial Contexts" in the first application round 2021 on the recommendation of its funding committee and granted a total of 684,493 Euros in funding. Three of the projects were newly applied for, and two already underway will be extended.
One collaborative project in Baden-Württemberg is looking at the origins of human remains in the state's academic collections. They were once researched by institutions and exchanged among themselves. Accordingly, several institutions have now joined forces to process these holdings: The Museum and Osteological Collection of the University of Tübingen, the State Museums of Natural History in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, and the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart are investigating the provenance of more than 100 human remains from Africa.
A collaborative project spanning all of Germany is dedicated to a colonial area that is often forgotten today: Loot from China is being investigated by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in association with MARKK Hamburg, Museum Fünf Kontinente Munich, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, and Grassi Museum für angewandte Kunst Leipzig. After the suppression of the resistance of the so-called "Boxer Movement," thousands of cultural objects were shipped from China to the German Reich. The museums are now researching whether looted objects from China are in their holdings.
The German Lost Art Foundation in Magdeburg, which was founded by the federal government, the states and leading municipal associations on Jan. 1, 2015, is Germany's central point of contact on questions of unlawfully seized cultural property. The Foundation receives institutional funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, from which it also receives funding for its projects. The Foundation's main focus is on cultural property seized under National Socialism, especially from Jewish owners. Since January 2019, when the German Lost Art Foundation was expanded to include a department for colonial contexts, it has also been possible to apply for funding for projects dealing with cultural property and collections from colonial contexts. Since then, a total of approximately 3.1 million Euros has been approved for 27 projects in this area.
Applications for longer-term projects can be submitted on January 1 and June 1 of each year; short-term projects can be applied for at any time. All institutions in Germany under public law that collect, preserve or research cultural property from colonial contexts are eligible to apply. These include museums, universities and other research institutions. Since Jan. 1, 2021, applications can also be submitted by institutions that are recognized as non-profit and have their headquarters in Germany.