Conference "Challenges in Provenance Research and Art Restitution Today and Tomorrow", Wien 2026 - 1,2 Dec 2026

8.30–9.00 a.m. Arrival/Registration

9.00–9.15 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks

9.15–10.45 a.m.

PANEL 1: Law, Norms, Ethics and the Limits of Restitution

Chair: Franz-Philipp Sutter (Austrian Supreme Administrative Court / WU Vienna)

Manon Zeidler (AGBU, Paris)

Restitution as a Symptom: On the Limits of International Cultural Heritage Law

Emma Waring (University of York)

Beyond the Washington Principles: Time, Moral Force, and the Limits of English Spoliation Law

Corinne Hershkovitch (Cabinet CH) / Amnon Lehavi (Reichman University, Herzlia) France’s Cour de Cassation Annuls the 1942

Dorville Auction: Implications for “Hard Law” Restitution of Nazi-Era Spoliated Art

Sebastian Schlegel (Stadtmuseum Berlin)

Beyond Legal Remedies? Ethical Questions and Responsibilities for Public Collections Concerning Cultural Property Expropriations in the Soviet Occupation Zone and the GDR (1945–1990)

Charlotte Woodhead (University of Warwick)

Property, care and justice: restitution committees reflecting legal approaches

10.45–11.15 a.m. Morning Break

PANEL 2: From Expropriation to Restitution: Transnational Legacies of the Nazi Era Chair: Birgit Kirchmayr (JKU)

11.15–12.45 a.m.

Mary-Ann Middelkoop (University of Cambridge)

Nazi-Era Provenance, Temporality and the Historian’s Craft

Katharina Hüls-Valenti (GHI, Rome)

Contextualizing Italy within Nazi-era Provenance Research: the dispersal of the Pollitzer art collection under German occupation in Trieste and its traces across borders

Karlo Ruzicic-Kessler (Université de Fribourg)

“Preventing the Expropriation of Swiss Assets”: Swiss Interventions Against Nazi Expropriation Policies Lucie Nĕmečková (Documentation Centre of Property Transfer of the Cultural Assets of WW2 Victims)

Richard Morawetz Collection. Double injustice finally repaired?

Julia Unterweger (BMWKMS / Commission for Provenance Research, Vienna)

The Austrian Republic's 50th Anniversary 1995 or: How the Mauerbach Benefit Sale came about 1996

12.45 a.m.–2.15 p.m. Lunch Break

PANEL 3: Producing Value. Markets, Knowledge and Canon Formation in Provenance Research

Chair: Christian Huemer (Belvedere Research Center)

2.15–3.30 a.m.

Gabriella Corey-Moretti (University of Maastricht)

Behind the block: provenance research, restitution practices, and the auction house

Janine Kersten / Brigitte Reineke (DHM, Berlin)

Art Exports Without Borders: The Transnational Trading Network of Kunst und Antiquitäten GmbH

Liza Weber (Sotheby´s Institute of Art) The Price of Provenance: Ascertaining the Value of Nazi-Era Restitutions on the Art Market

Tamara Loitfellner (Commission for Provenance Research, Vienna)

Why have there been no great women artists in provenance research?

3.30–4.00 p.m. Afternoon Break

PANEL 4: Knowledge with Reservations: Uncertainty, Gaps, and Epistemic Challenges Chair: NN

4.00–5.15 p.m.

Nicole-Melanie Goll (Leopold-Museum Privatstiftung, Commission for Provenance Research, Vienna) / Anneliese Schallmeiner (Commission for Provenance Research, Vienna)

The “Habsburg Jewels” or the question: what can provenance research still achieve?

Leticia Machado Haertel (Lawyer)

From Gaps to Accountability: Toward a Duty to Declare Provenance in Paleontology

Katharina Garbers-von Boehm (onto Partners, Berlin) / Nikola Doll (Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste, Magdeburg)

The broader context: addressing gaps, uncertain knowledge and conflicting evidence requirements

Jelena Todorovic (University of Arts, Belgrade)

Saving from Oblivion – How provenance research can help historians and save collections from scholarly oblivion – the case of the State Art Collection Belgrade, Yugoslavia

5.15–5.30 p.m. Transition Break

5.30–6.30 p.m. ROUND TABLE: Network of European Restitution Committees on Nazilooted Art

Host: NN

6.30–9.00 p.m. Reception

8.30–9.00 a.m. Arrival/Registration

9.00–10.15 a.m.

PANEL 5: Entangled Histories – De-/Colonial Perspectives and Collections

Chair: Bernadette Biedermann (KFU)

Reilly Clark (University of California, Santa Barbara)

Imperial Boomerang: African and Oceanic Art in Occupied Paris, 1940–1944

Daniel Hendrikse (NIOD, Amsterdam) / Wiebe Reints (Boerhaave Museum, Leiden) Provenance research at crossroads. Cultural objects as nodes of multiple contexts of injustice

Elisabeth Pereira / Alexandra Marques / Maria Figueira (Nova University of Lisbon/University of Évora)

Exhibitions as Living Documents: Participatory Decolonisation of Colonial Collections

Oliwia Pordzik (University of Vienna)

From “Objects” to “Belongings”: Rethinking Collections Stewardship and Restitution as a Relational Process in Alaskan Museums

10.15–10.45 a.m. Morning Break

10.45–12.00 a.m.

PANEL 6: Institutional Responsibilities and Practices - Historical Continuities

Chair: Jochen Böhler (HGM)

Bartłomiej Sierzputowski / Agata Modzolewska (Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Poland)

: A “New” Chapter in Polish Restitution Policy: Procedure for the Return of Cultural Objects Moved from the Territory of a Foreign Country from the Territory of the Republic of Poland

Borbála Klacsmann (ELTE, Budapest) / Katalin Andreides (Art Lawyer, Rome) Provenance and restitution in Hungary – Challenges and Developments Zuzana Löbling (Charles University, Prague)

From Post-Socialist Restitution to Holocaust Restitution: Legal Continuities and Institutional Ruptures in Czech Museum Collections

Eléonore Thole (Open Universiteit / RKD) Compensatory Restitution versus “Just and Fair Solutions”: Russian Trophy Art and the Fragmentation of Post-Holocaust Restitution Norms

12.00 a.m.–1.30 p.m. Lunch Break

1.30–2.30 p.m.

PANEL 7: Methods, Data and Infrastructures

Chair: Hanna Schneck (KHM-Museumsverband)

Mirna Mederal (Mimara Museum, Zagreb)

O, knowledge, where art thou? Data Retrieval Issues in Art Research Digital Repositories

Meike Hopp (German Lost Art Foundation / University of Cologne) Measuring Provenance Research? On Evaluation, Criteria, and the Limits of Metrics

Alexander Nagel (State University, New York) Archives as Archaeological Sites: South Arabian Objects, Archival Networks, and Institutional Histories between Yemen, Lyon, Berlin, New York City and Washington, D.C.

2.30–3.00 p.m. Afternoon Break

DAY 2 Wednesday, 2 Dec 2026

3.00–4.30 p.m.

PANEL 8: From Provenance Research to Public Accountability: Restitution, Transparency, and Museum Practice

Chair: Claudia Banz (Weltmuseum Wien / KHM-Museumsverband)

Paula Chmielowska / Kamil Zeidler (University of Gdańk)

Arguing Restitution: Hard Cases, Justifications, and the Limits of Consensus

Tamar Barbakadze (Independent Researcher, Georgia)

From Archive to Audience: Provenance Research, Narrative Power, and the Politics of Visibility

Emilia Krellmann (Technical University Dresden)

Testimony in Absentia. Curating Gaps in Museum Collections in the Context of Nazi-Era Provenance Research

Ute Strimmer / Sonia Buchroithner (Tiroler Landesmuseum, Innsbruck)

From Archival Research to Public Dialogue: The First Provenance Exhibition of the Tiroler Landesmuseen as a Catalyst for Research, Education, and Sustainability

Rebecca Leshinsky (RMIT University, Australia) / Jason Shulman (Jewish Theological Seminary, New York)

Public institutions, art/cultural objects provenance disputes, and the duty — if any — to disclose outcomes to the public

4.30–5.00 p.m.

Closing Remarks and Outlook

Birgit Kirchmayr (JKU, Scientific Coordination / Commission for Provenance Research)