The Inheritance of Looting. Medieval Trophies to Modern Museums

The project will create a virtual exhibition that explores how artworks looted in the Middle Ages were exhibited and (mis)interpreted in order to be defined as cultural heritage.

Factsheet

Schools involved Bern Academy of the Arts
Institute(s) Institute of Design Research
Research unit(s) Environmental Communication Design
Knowledge Visualization
Funding organisation SNSF
Duration (planned) 01.01.2023 - 31.12.2026
Head of project Prof. Dr. Beate Fricke
Project staff Dr. Andrew Sears
Linus Küng
Fabian Ehmel
Jonas Loh
Jil Zepp
André Holenstein
Boris Müller
Nicolo Bernasconi
Sophia Müller
Prof. Jimmy Schmid
Ramona Larissa Tschuppert
Prof. Dr. Tobias Hodel
Dr. Susan Marti
Wolf Hanno Schwarz
Dr. Sasha Rossman
Prof. Dr. Isabelle Dolezalek
Dr. Michael Krzemnicki
Dr. Jan von Wartburg
Jakob Weber
Partner Bernisches Historisches Museum
Fondation du Chateau de Grandson
Historisches Museum Basel
Museum Aargau
Museum Mayer Van den Bergh, Antwerpen
MET: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Studio NAND, Berlin
Schweizerisches Nationalmuseum

Situation

The core pieces of the Bern Historical Museum's current collection were brought to Bern over 500 years ago as ‘booty’ from military campaigns and religious upheavals. Here, they became symbols of cultural identity and ‘masterpieces’. However, the history of the various expropriations is not very prominent in the museum today. The project therefore analyses the provenance history of the objects in the longue durée from their creation to their current presentation in the museum. The reinterpretations, changes in perspective and respective contexts are primarily revealed using the example of the famous Burgundian booty from the Battle of Grandson (1476) and the monastery treasure of Königsfelden. The aim is to go beyond the presentation of artworks in exhibitions and explore cross-media possibilities for (re)presenting losses, expropriations, reinterpretations and appropriations in a contemporary context. This should open up new perspectives on the mediation of history in the media.

Course of action

The interdisciplinary team consists of eleven researchers and draws on expertise from art history, museum studies, digital humanities, design research and sociology. Within the art-historical perspective, three sub-projects examine different collection complexes and time periods. At the same time, interviews are being conducted to identify potential user groups for the virtual representation of the results, and an interface design is being developed that will enable diverse forms of accessibility and narration.

Result

The most important application-related achievement of this collaboration is a virtual exhibition. A handbook summarises the results of this digital communication format and reflects on them critically. The results of the art-historical research have been published in a series of academic articles and four smaller, generally accessible accompanying publications for the public.