Prohibition Act, the Monument Protection Act and the racist Nazilaws) and from a legally binding agreement(the one between theVolkskundemuseum Wien and the Art Restitution Advisory Board).We regard laws not only as regulations laid down and enforced bythe state, but also as socially, politically and ideologically negotiatedartifacts that express social values and objectives in their formulationand application. Their interpretation, scope and impact are subjectto constant change, which needs to be made visible.ConversionsAgainst this background, we organized our thoughts and exhibi-tion-concept along the relevant legal texts. This presented severalchallenges. Because of the specificity of their language, which seeksto remove all ambiguity, and their supposed objectivity and“dryness”,the texts are not always immediately accessible and had to be“trans-lated” into a suitable language for the exhibition. In both the legal textsand the vocabulary of systematic provenance research derived fromit, this translation had to find a balance between comprehensibilityand terminological correctness. The requirements were strict anddifficult to reconcile with our aim of creating an exhibition with a goodand easily understandable narrative.The trying and finding of an“exhibition language” gave rise toconsiderable discussions and reflections within the team, not leastbecause the legal terminology contrasted sharply with the lack ofclarity – and often ambiguity – presented by the museum’s ­holdingsand sources. Moreover, while systematic provenance researchis designed to facilitate a basis for decision-making, the cultural­analysis underlying the work of a museum aims to draw attention toambivalences and nuances. Personal contacts between museum­functionaries at the time and people who were later persecuted, theirshared(Austrian) patriotism and other common goals before 1938and after 1945 open up the field here and provide insights into waysof thinking and acting that systematic provenance research does notor must not ask about. This is another reason why we saw it as an­exhibition task to dwell upon such contexts and nuances on the basisof our museum.13