Preserving Artists’ Legacies: Research Workshop In Berlin

In January 2019, colleagues from Maastricht University and scholars in Germany organised an interdisciplinary research workshop to explore their interests in artists’ estates under the auspices of MACCH. The workshop brought together academics and practitioners and took place at the “Hybrid Lab” in Berlin, which is a joint initiative of the Technical University of Berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts hosting events between art and science. Attendees discussed the challenges of caring for (and sharing) contemporary artists’ legacies.

The meeting was co-facilitated between MACCH affiliated researchers Christoph Rausch (UCM) and Pip Laurenson (Tate/UM) and was attended by FASoS-MACCH researchers Vivian van Saaze and Renée van de Vall, as well as Lydia Beerkens from SRAL. German attendants included Anna Schäffler (Free University of Berlin) and Dorothee Wimmer (Director of the Centre for Art Market Studies, Technical University Berlin). The conveners also invited Miriam Windhausen (independent consultant artists’ legacies) and Mark Waugh (Director of Art360 Foundation, London). MACCH affiliated researcher Anke Moerland (Faculty of Law, Maastricht University) was unable to attend the Berlin meeting but remains part of ongoing conversations contributing to the discussions from the perspective of intellectual property law. The group has taken the initiative to establish a European consortium to study the public heritage and private inheritance of modern and contemporary artists’ estates.