Museum collections are the result of relationships. Provenance research makes the origins and relational histories behind the objects visible, and scrutinises the unequal power relationships that existed when the objects were acquired.
Bought, plundered, exchanged, donated, extorted, looted: the objects in the collections of the Ethnologischen Museums and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst were acquired and appropriated in a whole range of ways. Accompanied by a booklet, both collections at the Humboldt Forum explore the objects, people and events to tell the stories that have shaped the relationships between human kind and objects.
Provenance research itself also builds relationships. Collaborative research and dialogue with people from the regions from which the objects originate can change our ideas about our shared past. Collectively confronting histories that are often violent can also create new ways of dealing with the objects in the future and new paths for postcolonial provenance research.
