Kunsthochschule: Dr. Martin Schmidl is the new rector

Dr. Martin Schmidl succeeds Joel Baumann, who has headed the Kunsthochschule since 2013. Martin Schmidl (born 1962) took up his new post at the Kunsthochschule on November 1.

The art and cultural scientist is looking forward to new challenges and a new, interesting field of work in Kassel: "The Kunsthochschule Kassel is a place for future-oriented thinking, which I would like to develop further together with students and teachers," he said on taking up the post. Prof. Dr. Ute Clement, President of the University of Kassel, added: "With Dr. Martin Schmidl, the semi-autonomous art academy is gaining an outstanding artist and cultural scientist as Rector. Together with the opening of the new art space, these are groundbreaking developments for the art academy."

Schmidl studied fine arts at the Städelschule in Frankfurt/Main and at the Kunstakademie Karlsruhe; his studies were preceded by a degree in communication design at the FH Munich. The subject of his doctorate at the Institute for Art and Cultural Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is the exhibition history of the Dachau concentration camp from 1945 to 2001. Schmidl was a staff member at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and lectured in Stuttgart, Maastricht, Dresden, Leipzig, Münster and Newcastle, among other places. He is co-founder of ausstellungsraum in Frankfurt (1992-1999) and founder of roonroom in Aachen (2011-2013), was co-founder of the group finger, co-editor of the magazine of the same name (1998-2001) and co-founder of the group Floorplan at the Art History Institute of the University of Bonn (since 2013). In addition, he curated art projects for institutions and companies in Graz, Frankfurt, Munich, Aachen, among others, and played a leading role in various exhibitions and exhibition designs (including Haus der Kunst Munich, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Aachen, Westfälisches Landesmuseum Münster, Forum Stadtpark Graz, Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe). From 2016 to 2020, he was vice president of the Academy of Fine Arts Munich.

Schmidl has published monographs and numerous scholarly articles in exhibition catalogs and books. Since 2016 he has edited autopress, a book series on art and theory, and since 2017 the series Akademietexte with Maria Muhle (AdBK Munich). His 2015 Handbook of Drawing, which presents methods and techniques of representational drawing, is already in its 4th edition.