Workshop
Reversed Provenance Research/Reversed Art Histories
2 September 2025
Venue: Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby
This workshop brings together researchers from Papua New Guinea and Germany to explore new approaches to provenance research and art historiography from a decolonial perspective. Moving beyond the return of cultural subject/objects alone, we focus on the restitution of histories, knowledge, and narrative authority.
A central concern is the role of oral histories and memory in decolonizing archives—how situated knowledge can challenge, complicate, or reframe written colonial records. We also examine how colonial photographs and artistic documents continue to “speak” today, acting as both historical evidence and as active agents in processes of cultural and historical reassertion.
Restitution is understood here not first and foremost as a legal or institutional gesture, but as an ongoing, relational process of reclaiming social and cultural memory—one that unfolds through dialogue. Thus the workshop aims to foster new alliances between museums, communities, and researchers, and to reflect on implications and responsibilities in reshaping the futures of cultural heritage.
With: Curators of the The National Museum and Art Gallery, Prof. Patrick Matbob (Divine Word University, Madang, PNG), Prof. Martin Zillinger (University of Cologne, Germany), Tiko Waundu (Curator, National Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby, PNG), Maine Goga (National Museum and Art Gallery, Port Moresby, PNG), Minetta Kakarere (University of Papua New Guinea; Port Moresby), Katharina Nowak (University of Tübingen, Germany), Dr. Anna Brus (University of Cologne, Germany, German Lost Art Foundation) and many more.
Organized by: Anna Brus (Global South Studies Center (GSSC), Thematic Area “Transregional Museum and Heritage Studies”) in cooperation with Tiko Waundu (Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery) and Maine Goga (Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery).
Click here for the full program.