Central Archive for German and International Art Market Research

The ZADIK | Central Archive for German and International Art Market Research is a research institute at the University of Cologne dedicated to archiving, processing, critically reflecting on, researching, and communicating the history, structures, contexts, and developments of international art systems.

About the archive

Today, the Central Archive comprises over 200 collections from gallery owners, art dealers, art critics, curators, professional photographers, and other art market players, focusing on the period from the early 20th century to the present day. ZADIK was founded in 1992 as the world's first special archive on the history of the art trade and was transferred to the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cologne in 2020.

Every year, ZADIK hosts changing exhibitions, ranging from Der Weg zur Kunst (The Path to Art) by the Hamburg auction house Hauswedell & Nolte on Barbara Gross. Women Artists as Protagonists, and the current exhibition Charlotte Zander: Collector, Gallery Owner, Museum Founder.

The journal sediment – Materials and Research on the History of the Art Market has been ZADIK's publication format since 1994, presenting topics from the archive and selected archive holdings in a content-rich format.