A Provenance

Katharina Bayer, A Provenance, 2025, 4K DCP (1.85:1), colour and black & white, 5.1 audio, 13:57 minutes © The artist

The provenance of 32 chess figures exemplifies the broader tragedy of looted Jewish collections and their rightful owners. Through archival images, the resonant sounds of porcelain, and the ongoing search for these figures, the film uses an experimental cinematic language to illuminate the fate of the Gustav von Klemperer porcelain collection during the National Socialist era—a legacy of loss deeply entwined with the Dresden State Art Collections. A PROVENANCE is a silent film—without being silent.

[FILM LINK]

CREDITS Concept & Research: Katharina Bayer Montage: Katharina Bayer, Jyrgen Ueberschär Sound Design: Toni Schlesinger Re-recording mix: Matthias Schwab Colour Grading: Jyrgen Ueberschär Script Editing: Gegensatz Translation Collective Mentoring: Clemens von Wedemeyer, Mareike Bernien SUPPORTED BY the von Klemperer family and the Dresden State Art Collections: Dr Julia Weber, Maria Geppert, Dr Katja Lindenau, Dr Thomas Rudert, Prof Dr Doreen Mende, Anna-Lisa Reith IMAGE SOURCES Porcelain Collection, Dresden State Art Collections, Archive Porcelain Collection of Gustav von Klemperer, Catalogue, Dresden 1928 TEXT SOURCES Lost Art Database: Lost Art—ID 593554: www.lostart.de Porcelain Collection, Dresden State Art Collections Research: Porcelain Collection of Gustav von Klemperer: Anette Loesch & Kathrin Iselt, 2019–2021 Porcelain Collection of Gustav von Klemperer: Catalogue, Dresden 1928 FUNDINGS Szloma Albam Foundation Berlin Dresden State Art Collections

Opening of the exhibition “We show what we (don’t) know” of the HGB Leipzig on 12.10.2023 at the Japanisches Palais of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. Photo: Oliver Killig

Katharina Bayer (b. 1987, Gmunden, Austria) is an artist and filmmaker working at the intersection of architecture, visual art, and experimental cinema. She studied architecture at Graz University of Technology, fine arts at the Zurich University of the Arts and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and film (Expanded Cinema) at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig under Clemens von Wedemeyer and Mareike Bernien. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, Museum Folkwang (Essen), the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and the Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival, among others.

www.katharinabayer.com