Research project "Museums and Controversial Collections"

Highly recommended: Curator and cultural organizer based in Berlin, Antonia Alampi brings a practice rooted in eco-social justice, collective learning, and long-term collaboration across disciplines. Her work moves between exhibitions, public and educational programmes, reflecting on how cultural work can strengthen shared knowledge and support relationships between communities and their environments.
This year’s edition of the Unschool of curating, Repair as Method, proposes repair not as a moral slogan, but as a working method for curatorial practice. In a context marked by acceleration, fragmentation, and precarity, the programme invites participants to rethink curating as an act of responsibility, towards institutions, communities, and cultural memory.
Taking place between 19-26 June 2026 in Timișoara and Cluj, the Unschool offers an intensive, practice-led environment for dialogue, exchange, and learning.
Application deadline: 23 April 2026
Results announced: 4 May 2026
Apply here https://bit.ly/4spKuOb
The Unschool of Curating is co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund and supported by the strategic partnership with Banca Transilvania. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.

Curator and cultural organizer based in Berlin, Antonia Alampi brings a practice rooted in eco-social justice, collective learning, and long-term collaboration across disciplines. Her work moves between exhibitions, public and educational programmes, reflecting on how cultural work can strengthen shared knowledge and support relationships between communities and their environments.

This year’s edition of the Unschool of curating, Repair as Method, proposes repair not as a moral slogan, but as a working method for curatorial practice. In a context marked by acceleration, fragmentation, and precarity, the programme invites participants to rethink curating as an act of responsibility, towards institutions, communities, and cultural memory.

Taking place between 19-26 June 2026 in Timișoara and Cluj, the Unschool offers an intensive, practice-led environment for dialogue, exchange, and learning.

📅 Application deadline: 23 April 2026
📩 Results announced: 4 May 2026
🔗 Apply here https://bit.ly/4spKuOb

The Unschool of Curating is co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund and supported by the strategic partnership with Banca Transilvania. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the results of the project may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.

UNESCO has launched its Virtual Museum of Stolen Cultural Objects – the first of its kind worldwide.

This unprecedented initiative uses cutting-edge virtual reality to showcase over 240 looted cultural objects in 2D and 3D, alongside testimonies from the communities they were stolen from.

Beyond raising awareness among citizens and youth, the museum aims to:
✔️ Educate the public on the scale and impact of illicit trafficking
✔️ Encourage States to strengthen protection and inventory policies
✔️ Promote provenance research in the art market
✔️ Foster international cooperation for restitution

Made possible through the support of Saudi Arabia, the United States, Greece, INTERPOL HQ, and 44 countries worldwide, the museum was designed by architect Francis Kéré.

Explore this milestone in heritage protection: https://museum.unesco.org/

📢 A Difficult Heritage – Ethical Issues on Colonialism, Racism and the Marginalised in Museums
🗓️ Date: 22 September 2025
🕔 Time: 17:00 CET
📍 Online via Zoom https://ucl.zoom.us/j/97583752753

The Ethnographic Museum Zagreb presents the exhibition “Travellers” – Collection of Non-European Cultures, tracing the journeys of people and objects from colonial times to the present day.
👉 The exhibition raises key questions:
-How were national museums and collections of non-European cultures created?
-How have museums shaped the Western perspective of the “exotic -Other” and reinforced cultural stereotypes?
What role should ethics and responsibility play in museums today?
👥 Speakers:
🔹 Željka Jelavić, Ph.D.
🔹 Marija Živković
👉 Join us for this important conversation and help us rethink the role of museums in contemporary society!

"Examining De/Colonial Traces Through Colonial Collections"
is the first publication resulting from the collaboration between the Académie des Traces https://academiedestraces.com/ and Contemporary& with texts written by the participating PhD students. Please read it & share it. https://contemporaryand.com/fr/magazines/examining-de-colonial-traces-through-colonial-collections/

Examiner les traces dé/coloniales à travers les collections coloniales Les traces du colonialisme façonnent encore notre vie quotidienne et continuent à structurer notre manière de penser, de travailler, de vivre et d'aimer, ainsi que les privilèges dont nous bénéficions - ou dont nous sommes exclu/e/s. Examiner comment ces traces se manifestent dans les collecti...

The latest issue of the "International Journal of Heritage Studies" (Volume 31, Issue 3, 2025) is out! This issues features a series of articles on "virtual repatriation", "the symbolic violence of heritage consultancy", "the heritage value of emptiness", etc. PS: If you’d like to read the piece about the museum in Tervuren (Belgium) but don’t have access through your institution, let us know.

International Journal of Heritage Studies Volume 31, Issue 3 of International Journal of Heritage Studies

Who Owns Heritage? The Fight for Historical Monuments (Brno, 6 Nov 25), Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic
Deadline: Apr 11, 2025

Call for papers for the conference "Who Owns Heritage? Local Communities and the Fight for Historical Monuments in the 19th and 20th Centuries" at Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic, November 6, 2025.

This conference is hosted by the Department of Art History of Masaryk University and it is part of the project "The First Histories of Architecture and the Creation of National Heritage in South- Eastern Europe (1860-1930). A Transnational Approach (GN22-19492I)" led by Dr. Cosmin Minea.

What happens when those living alongside historical monuments – churchgoers, farmers, workers, custodians, local officials, non-human entities – see these sites as theirs? Through what sources and scholarly approaches can we recover their voices and their role in the state-led activities of restoration and preservation of architectural monuments?

This conference explores the debates, conflicts and role of local communities in the heritage politics starting from the mid-19th century and focusing especially but not exclusively on Central and Eastern Europe. It also seeks to understand the role of non-human actors, such as plants, animals, natural formations, weather and the different, more-than-human perspectives, they bring to the process of heritage making. The conference is based on the premise that local communities played an unrecognized role in official heritage policies, through resistance, negotiations, adaptations, and the use of traditions and knowledge. Architects and commissions frequently relied on the knowledge and testimonies of these communities, acted in accordance with their desires and employed them on works of restoration or preservation. At the same time there was often a sense of struggle over the heritage. For example, communities opposed the modifications to their monuments while architects and state institutions had to also prevent transformations, replacements or demolition by the locals.

The institutions, actors and ideologies underpinning the process of heritage building have been thoroughly analysed in groundbreaking studies (Jukka Jokilehto, Miles Glendinning, Brenda Schildgen) as well as more recent works that focus on Central and Eastern Europe (Maria Couroucli and Tchavdar Marinov, Dragan Damjanović and Aleksander Łupienko, Maximilian Hartmuth and Ayse Dilsiz Hartmuth). They have revealed a wealth of case studies that explain how national ideologies shaped a specific vision of the past with the help of historical monuments. These are seen as “living witnesses” of the past, as states the Venice International Charter of 1964, still a reference in the management of architectural heritage today.

However, in the processes of restoration and preservation, other types of “living witnesses” were silenced, namely the local communities and non-human entities. They have been legally and symbolically dispossessed of their monuments, which were placed in the custody of the state. Legitimized by national narratives, “heritage experts” emerged, holding the “authorized heritage discourse” as Laurajane Smith famously noted.

This conference seeks to balance the disproportionate attention that state actors and elites have received and analyse what has been the role as well as the influence on those for whom the monuments were part of their daily lives.

Proposals for 20-minute papers are invited on topics such as:
- Attitudes, reactions, reflections on the state-led restoration activities from the local communities as well as their influential role in the process
- Grassroots preservation practices. How local communities took care of their historical buildings?
- Local notions of “architectural heritage”. Beyond the dichotomy “bad taste” of locals and the “expertise” of professionals, how did the local population see historical architecture?
- How can we configure a more-than-human perspective on the heritage-making process? What was the role of non-human actors such as insects, rivers, snow, trees, etc.?
- Marginalised communities, minorities, alternative official voices, including responses to quasi-colonial attitudes of the elites of Central and Eastern Europe
- Discussion of sources. How can we study local voices and what kind of sources did they produce?
- Displaced and destroyed heritage. Responses to the disappearance of the heritage through decay, destruction or relocation to ethnographic museums or other sites
- Definitions and inquiries into notions of heritage, patrimony, possession, ownership, communities, etc.

Submission of proposals:
The deadline for submission of abstracts of up to 300 words including a short biography is April 11, 2025. They should be sent to: [email protected].

Selected participants will be notified by April 22, 2025.
Some travel and accommodation costs may be covered for participants without access to institutional funding.

"Applications for inherit Fellowships 2026-7
The Centre for Advanced Study inherit.heritage in transformation, a BMBF-funded Käte Hamburger Kolleg based at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, explores historical, contemporary, and potential future transformations in heritage. Annually, up to fifteen international fellows engage in research activities at the Centre. Fellowships for 2026-7 will run from 1 October 2026 until 31 July 2027.
Applications for fellowships for 2026-7 should address the topic of Addressing Heritage Loss. Applications should also relate to one or more of our guiding themes: decentring the west, decentring the human, and transforming value. Successful projects are likely to be based in original empirical or archival study/analysis of source material (which may have already been undertaken) or creative work.
Researchers and topics from areas currently underrepresented in heritage scholarship, including the global South and Eastern Europe, are especially encouraged to apply. We also welcome applications from artists, film-makers and curators.
Topic for 2026–7: Addressing Heritage Loss
We invite applications that consider the dismantling, destruction and letting go of heritage, as well as issues of disinheritance, disposal, renouncing and revising. We encourage original research that addresses past, ongoing or possible future consequences of, and responses to, such undoing of heritage. Our interest is also in research-based creative – including both practical and artistic – approaches to addressing heritage loss.
Duration and conditions
Fellowships can be awarded for a maximum period of 10 months. Preference may be given to applications for the full time period, which runs from the beginning of October 2026 until the end of July 2027. Other than for short visits elsewhere, it is required that you spend the time of your fellowship in Berlin and that you participate in the work of inherit. A monthly stipend whose rate is determined by career stage and whether family members accompany the fellow, or, in the case of applicants based in Germany, replacement cover, will be awarded. In addition, the costs for the return journey (economy) to Berlin and any necessary visa costs will be reimbursed. You are required to cover accommodation, health insurance and any further costs.
Unfortunately, members of Humboldt-Universität are not eligible to become fellows.
Participation in and contribution to inherit
During the fellowship, fellows are expected to be based in Berlin and devote their time to their work in the Centre (except for a small number of possible short visits elsewhere, such as to give talks or participate in workshops). This includes actively participating in inherit’s events, such as the regular colloquium, workshops, the annual lecture series and conference. It is also encouraged to contribute to our dissemination platforms. A work space at our Centre is provided.
Application requirements
Applicants should have completed (submitted and successfully defended by the application deadline) a PhD to an excellent standard and significant publishing from this or, in the case of artists and practitioners, should have a substantial portfolio of accomplished work.
Applicants should submit the online application form, where they will be asked to submit the following documents:
Cover letter stating proposed start date and length of fellowship, title of proposed project and brief motivation for applying to inherit.
Project proposal – up to 2 pages of A4 (in a font no smaller than Times new Roman pitch 11) but with further annex of up to 6 pages of images, where relevant. To include: title and abstract (150 words), summary of proposed work, including making clear how it relates to the topic of Addressing Heritage Loss and one or more of the guiding themes of inherit: decentring the west, decentring the human, and transforming value, as well as its relations to your previous work; timetable; and any resources necessary to completing the work.
CV that includes:
List including dates and locations of the beginning and completion of all further and higher education, including PhD in the case of academic researchers. The title of the PhD should be given. Funding sources should also be listed.
List of academic- or practice-related activities, including exhibitions, film or conference presentations, organizational activities, teaching etc.
Any fellowships, prizes or awards, with dates, sources and funding amounts.
Full list of publications, making clear which emanate from the PhD (where relevant). lf written in a language other than English, please provide a translation of the title. lnclude full reference details, including page numbers and online links where relevant.
In addition (either as one or two separate pdfs or together with the above), please submit EITHER two articles or chapters (published or unpublished) of a maximum of 20,000 words altogether, OR (in the case of artists) portfolio of art works, films or exhibitions, making clear own role and providing details of times and locations of showing.
Selection process
The selection process is made by an internal committee together with the advisory board. We receive high numbers of excellent proposals. Inevitably, this means that we end up having to not accept many of these. In making our selections, we give emphasis to the quality of the proposal, especially the originality of the ideas and capacity to go beyond existing scholarship or practice. A key criterion is how well it speaks to the areas emphasised in the call, ideally not just providing illustration of these but also exploring, theorizing and possibly expanding upon these in interesting ways. Relevance to our themes and the heritage field is also important. Beyond these matters, the strength of CVs – taking into account career stage and other contextual considerations – including the quality of work submitted and that undertaken previously, are also addressed during the selection. In the final selection, issues of diversity, geographical spread and disciplinary mix are also considered.
The deadline for submission is 14th April 2025.
Contact information
lf you have any questions, please have a look at our FAQ or contact Ms. Gultakin Bayramova ([email protected])."

inherit

Le projet Extractivism.de, porté notamment par les universités de Kassel et de Marburg, ouvre son appel pour accueillir des chercheurs internationaux sur les différents enjeux liés à l'extractivisme, à son impact sur les sociétés, les mobilisations, les systèmes politiques et l'environnement, mais aussi les relations internationales et l'économie politique internationale. Il s'intéresse particulièrement aux espaces d'Amérique latine et d'Afrique du Nord, mais également à l'Europe, l'Amérique du Nord et l'Asie.

Les frais de transport sont pris en charge et une allocation mensuelle de 3000€ est proposée aux fellows. L'appel est ouvert aux titulaires d'un doctorat proposant un projet de recherche (env. 2500 mots) portant sur les thèmes du programme Extractivism.de.

Les langues de travail sont l'anglais, le français, l'espagnol et l'allemand.

Plus d'informations ainsi que l'appel en plusieurs langues sont disponibles ici : https://extractivism.de/fellows2025/

Call for International Fellows 2025 - extractivism.de The Extractivism project is accepting applications for short-term fellowships, which are funded for up to three months in the University of Kassel and/or the University of Marburg in 2025. The Extractivism.de Project Extractivism.de is a collaborative research project funded by the German Federal Mi...