PERFORM – Performing Provenance
© Abbildung/Image: Zora Snake, Performance im Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum Köln. Standbild aus Video. Foto: Marie Köhler

  • Research Area

    “PERFORM – Performing Provenance” examines contemporary challenges in the provenance research of cultural objects from the Grasslands of Cameroon through contemporary art, performance practices, and digital environments. Drawing on an expanded notion of performativity, the project critically addresses colonial legacies, historical violence, memory and trauma, as well as current debates on restitution and the decolonization of museums.

    Based on a research-creation methodology, PERFORM brings together researchers, artists, and cultural institutions in France, Germany, and Cameroon. Through a transcolonial corpus of museum objects, documentary constellations combining archives, narratives, and artistic productions, and a series of international workshops, the project fosters the co-production of plurivocal narratives and creative works, contributing to debates on shared authority, ethical responsibility, and the decolonial futures of heritage institutions.

    For further information, please visit https://provenanceresearchfund.org/en/projects/perform.

  • Organisation and Funding

    The PERFORM project was made possible by funding from the Franco-German Provenance Research Fund for Cultural Heritage from Sub-Saharan Africa.

    The project is based at the Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin), a Franco-German research centre for the humanities and social sciences. The Centre for Advanced Study “Access to Cultural Goods in Digital Change” is involved in the project as a partner institution. Other partner institutions include Bandjoun Station, Cercle Kapsiki, Compagnie Zora Snake, ENS-PSL, Fondation Lucien Paye – CIUP, Linden Museum Stuttgart, LWL Museum of Art and Culture (Münster), the ANADA programme (Musée d’Aquitaine in Bordeaux, Musée d’Ethnographie de l’Université de Bordeaux, Musée d’Art et d’Archéologie de Périgueux, Musée d’Angoulême, Musée d’Histoire Naturelle de La Rochelle), Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (Cologne), Université Paris Cité, Université de Bordeaux, Université de Douala (Cameroon), Université d’Ebolowa (Cameroon) and Université Paris 8.

  • Conferences, Workshops and Lectures

    • PERFORM: Kick-off Workshop on Transcolonial Perspectives in Provenance Research, 12–14 June 2026, Bordeaux

  • Researchers