Former HfG lecturer Sebastian Baden as new director of the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt

The Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt has a new director. On July 1, 2022, Dr. Sebastian Baden will take up his position as managing director of the renowned Frankfurt institution. With the art historian, curator, and art educator, the Kunsthalle will once again have its own management on the initiative of the City of Frankfurt. This was decided by the shareholders' meeting (Magistrate of the City of Frankfurt am Main) on February 18, 2022. Sebastian Baden will take over from Dr. Philipp Demandt.

Sebastian Baden, born in 1980, has been curator for contemporary art, sculpture, and new media at the Kunsthalle Mannheim since 2016. Previously, he taught art history and media theory at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe from 2010 to 2016. He received his PhD in 2014 for "The Image of Terrorism in the Art System" (edition metzel, 2017). Baden develops the ideas and concepts of his curatorial work against the background of his many years of diverse experience as an art historian, art educator, and artist. He first studied art education at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe and literary studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, as well as liberal arts at the Bern University of the Arts. Immediately after his studies, he founded the gallery "Ferenbalm-Gurbrü Station" in Karlsruhe together with his brother Lukas Baden, with numerous international collaborations between 2006 and 2011. Among his art-scientific focal points are topics such as the history of the art exhibition, art and institutional critique, as well as political iconography and biodesign. In 2013, he was awarded the AICA International Incentive Prize for Young Art Critics for his contribution on "Documenta" art criticism.