13 October 2022 Press release

“Tiefenbohrung. Eine andere Provenienzgeschichte” (“Deep Drilling. A Different Provenance Story”), published by the German National Library’s German Museum of Books and Writing (DBSM), tells the museum's story from the perspective of its collections and their origins. Initially conceived as a search for traces in the institution’s own history, the book also presents a brief chronicle of cultural heritage.

Cultural heritage bears the marks of history: of war, inflation, economic miracles, expropriation, ideological repression and global networking. Some of these historical imprints are highly enigmatic and difficult to decipher, others are visible far and wide. The key questions are: In what historical and social circumstances and with what intentions were these artefacts given to the museum? What backstories do they bring with them? Who acquired what, when did they acquire it and why? And what is the motivation behind gifts and donations? In keeping with the museum’s thematic focus, the publication also tells the story of media from the early days of writing through to the digital age.

Underground comics, floppy disks, early prints, posters, letters, digital legacies, Hollywood photos and the silver trophy awarded to a publisher: the publication, which will appear at the time of the Frankfurt Book Fair, includes 33 object biographies that illustrate the paths, detours and dead ends taken by the collections which the German Museum of Books and Writing has amassed over the last 140 years. Theft and destruction are just as much a part of this story as gifts, donations and other strokes of good fortune.

At the same time, the provenance stories subvert traditional narratives of collecting as a neutral, apolitical act. They open our eyes to the normative, interest-driven character of collection building at museums along with the intended effects and hegemonic structures. After all, memory institutions are not just repositories; their task is also to construct tradition. A selection of guest authors, among them Bénédicte Savoy and Wolfgang Ernst, embed their essays on the collection into the broad context of a cultural history of provenance research.

Since provenance research is in principle incomplete and thrives to a great extent on cooperative and interdisciplinary research, a digital version of the publication will later be released as an open file that can be updated whenever new knowledge about the museum’s collections comes to light. Incompleteness is intrinsic, the transitory nature of provenance stories calls for a journey into the unknown.

The publication “Tiefenbohrung” (“Deep Drilling”) marks the start of a series of other events and publications on the topics of “origins and homeland” organised by the German Museum of Books and Writing. The accompanying virtual exhibition “Woher? Weshalb? Warum?“ (“Where from? What for? Why?”) will be hosted by the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library). There will be a six-part film series presenting a selection of provenance stories and interviews in TV format (to be released on the DNB website at the end of October). A number of guided tours and events will take place to mark the DBSM’s provenance theme day on 6 November 2022. They will give insights into a number of provenance stories selected from the almost one million artefacts in the collection. The talk series DBSM:meet invites the audience to join in discussions with guests who view the topic of “Homeland and Origins” from various perspectives. It will also be an opportunity for creative artists from Ukraine to have their say. As war refugees, they give the subject of origins a painfully topical focus.

Information about the programme in general: dnb.de/EN/tiefenbohrung

Tiefenbohrung. Eine andere Provenienzgeschichte (“Deep Drilling. A Different Provenance Story”)

Edited by Stephanie Jacobs for the German National Library
With a foreword by Claudia Roth and texts by Bénédicte Savoy, Wolfgang Ernst, Gilbert Lupfer et al.
Design: Torsten Köchlin, Joana Katte
Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, 2022
416 pages, softcover, 20x16cm
ISBN 978-3-7757-5249-7
Price: 24 Euro, available at the museum and from bookshops, can be ordered through
publikationen@dnb.de
Release date 16 October 2022

PDF for Press Relations 30 MB, PDF - Not barrier-free file.

“Woher? Weshalb? Warum?“ (“Where from? What for? Why?”)

Where from? What for? Why? All questions that are often asked by museum visitors. Simple questions. But the answers can sometimes be highly complex. The German Museum of Books and Writing at the German National Library in Leipzig has set out to find them. The virtual exhibition presents a few objects with biographies that have been verified or cannot be wholly determined.

From 14 October 2022: https://ausstellungen.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/provenienzgeschichten/ (only available in German)

Background

The book has shaped our culture and civilisation like no other medium. For centuries our knowledge about the world and its peoples has been stored in books. The task of the German National Library’s German Museum of Books and Writing is to collect, exhibit and process evidence of book and media history.

Alongside manuscripts, historical prints, coloured papers and modern book art, its collections contain archive materials and estates on the history of writing and typography. Together with the world’s largest watermark collection and a host of writing implements and machines for producing books and paper, the museum’s collections facilitate an interdisciplinary approach to issues in cultural and media studies .

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Images for editorial use

Press image material is only available in German.