The Berliner Festspiele are looking for a leadership personality with an extensive creative vision and commitment to take up the position of Director of the Gropius Bau (f/m/d) at the earliest possible date. The position is limited to a term of five years, with an option for extension.

Berliner Festspiele are a contemporary platform for the artistic analysis of the central socio-political challenges of the 21st century. Dynamic programming between both venues, with their diverse functional amenities, enables us to share and debate artistic positions and practices, as well as current topics. Alongside its art exhibitions, the expanded practice of the Gropius Bau also provides space for current socio-political issues. Alongside contemporary art exhibitions, historical and cultural exhibitions relevant to our present time support our interdisciplinary approach, enabling a larger audience to experience its outcomes. Special performance, discourse and festival formats at Haus der Berliner Festspiele complement the exhibitions. The dovetailing of content and structures of the overall programme of Berliner Festspiele is based on cooperation between all arms of the organisation.

Your tasks – Framing, contributing and participating.

• During the coming five years, you will conceive and take charge of the exhibition programme, beginning from 2024/25, and coordinate the human and financial resources necessary for its execution. A chief curator will support you in the planning of exhibitions.
• You see yourself as a partner of Berliner Festspiele’s directorship and an interface between their programme areas; you will take an active role in developing the overall vision of Berliner Festspiele and continuing its advancement in ongoing exchange with directorate.
• You will conceive and implement programme themes and exhibitions that involve both venues, together with Berliner Festspiele’s directorship.
• In the context of managerial and administrative tasks, you will be involved in all of Gropius Bau’s interdepartmental areas including communication, exhibition production, museum and building service supervision, as well as exhibition supervision.
• Third-party funding acquisition and administration are also a part of your tasks, as are the associated coordination processes with the central services of KBB. You will be able to receive subject-specific support in this area.
• You will take an active part in strengthening the Gropius Bau’s national and international network as well as opening it further to local neighbourhood communities.
• You will be involved in developing both content and strategies for the refurbishment of Gropius Bau, which is pending in the medium-term future.

Requirements – This is your profile

• A completed academic degree is required, preferably in art history or a comparable field of liberal arts or cultural science with a focus on modern and contemporary art. Alternatively, several years of experience in curating and exhibition practice in modern and contemporary art, and expertise in the fields of history, social or cultural sciences.
• In addition to leadership/management experience in a cultural institution (preferably an exhibition hall) and relevant strategic work experience in the fields of exhibitions and communication, a high degree of social competence and the ability to lead employees is required. You possess leadership competence, are experienced in leading organisational units and appreciate working in teams.
• You are highly proficient in acquiring third-party funding.
• We will be interested in how actively you take part in current contemporary art discourse and its adjacent socio-political debates; how aware you are of the special concerns of artists as well as non-profitmaking cultural institutions; and how engaged you are in shaping concepts and measures to increase institutional diversity, inclusivity and accessibility and help combat discrimination.
• National and international networks including artists, galleries, respective art scenes, museums and art institutions are advantageous.
• Also desired are adequate language skills in German and English at level C1 according to Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as well as skills in other languages.

Contact/Documents

Please submit your application in writing and exclusively via the button Online Bewerben (Apply Online), preferably by 28.11.2022. Please enclose your CV, relevant certificates and, if possible, letters of reference. You are welcome to note down initial concept outlines and include catalogues of exhibitions you previously curated. Please note that files may not exceed 25 MB in volume. If you wish to send larger files, please use other ways and let us know about them.

Interviews are planned for calendar weeks 3 and 4 in 2023.

If you have questions on the content of this call for applications, please contact Nele Warthemann (Executive Assistant to the Artistic Director) at nele.warthemann@berlinerfestspiele.de

berlinerfestspiele.de