October 14 – 16, 2026
University of Chicago | Smart Museum of Art | The Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion
The University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art and the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion are excited to bring together a group of international experts in provenance research, museum practice, religious studies, and cultural heritage for the symposium "Religion, Art, and Provenance in Museums." This symposium is part of a multi-year project supported by Lilly Endowment Inc.
Free and open to the public, this multi-day gathering will feature keynote lectures, panel discussions, and roundtables that explore the lives and afterlives of religious objects within museum collections. Together, participants will engage critical questions around display methodologies, community-engaged scholarship, and ethical policies for restitution and repatriation.
The symposium will feature two keynote lectures by leading voices in the field, offering critical perspectives on the provenance of religious objects and their implications for museum practice, cultural heritage, and public understanding.
Joanna Gohmann | Associate Curator of Provenance Research & Object Histories, Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art Ciraj Rassool | Senior Professor in the Department of Historical Studies, University of the Western Cape
Keynote lecture: Joanna Gohmann, Associate Curator of Provenance and Object Histories, National Museum of Asian Art
5:45–7:00 pm
Welcome reception at the Smart Museum of Art
Thursday, October 15, 2026
8:45–9:15 am
Sign-in Table Open
9:15–9:30 am
Opening Remarks
9:30–11:00 pm
Panel | Religious Objects, Provenance, and Methods of Display
Jacques Schuhmacher, Art Institute of Chicago
Alexandra Watson Jones, Victoria and Albert Museum
Patrick Polk, Fowler Museum at UCLA
Moderated by Galina Mardilovich, Curator, Smart Museum of Art
11:00–11:15 am
Coffee Break
11:15 am–12:15 pm
Panel | Approaches to Community-Engaged Research
Julia Binter, Professor of Critical Museum and Heritage Studies, University of Bonn
Laura Van Broekhoven, Pitt Rivers: The Maasai Living Cultures Project
June Carpenter, Field Museum
Moderated by Allison Martino, Curator, Smart Museum of Art
12:15–1:00 pm
Lunch Break
1:00 pm–2:00 pm
Roundtable | Case Studies in Community Collaboration: Religious Objects, Museum Collections, and Restitution
Erica P. Jones, Fowler Museum at UCLA
Thupten Kelsang, Victoria and Albert Museum
Kwasi Ampene, Tufts University
Moderated by Allison Martino, Curator, Smart Museum of Art
2:00 pm–3:30 pm
Roundtable | Legal Perspectives on Art and Cultural Heritage
Patty Gerstenblith, DePaul University
Jennifer Morris, Morris Art Law
Bradley J. Gordon, Edenbridge
Moderated by Laurie Stein, L. Stein Art Research
3:30–3:45 pm
Coffee Break
3:45–5:00 pm
Keynote lecture:Ciraj Rassool, Senior Professor of History at the University of the Western Cape and Director of the African Program in Museum and Heritage Studies
5:00–5:15 pm
Closing Remarks
Friday, October 16, 2026
8:30–9:15 am
Sign-in Table Open
9:15–9:30 am
Opening Remarks (concept and theory focus)
9:30–10:30 am
Roundtable | Questioning Provenance: Asian Religious Objects in Western Museum Collections
Christine Howald, Deputy Director, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Qamar Adamjee, Metropolitan Museum of Art
MacKenzie Mallon, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Moderated by Donato Loia, Postdoctoral Researcher and Instructor in Art and Religion, University of Chicago Divinity School
10:30–11:30 am
Breakout Session | Building Connection
11:30 am–12:30 pm
Lunch Break
12:30–2:00 pm
Panel | Ethical Consideration for Provenance Research and Restitution
Renée Albiston, Denver Art Museum
Mallica Kumbera Landrus, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Chip Colwell, Wenner-Gren Foundation
Moderated by Emily Crews, Executive Director, The Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion
2:00 pm
Closing Remarks
RSVP
Coming soon, link to register forthcoming. Admission to the symposium is free; registration is required.
