Seeking Head of Curatorial Department and Outreach

Gropius Bau is seeking a Head of the Curatorial Department and Outreach. As a vital part of the senior management team, the role will be instrumental in shaping and implementing Gropius Bau’s programme and institutional transformation.

Gropius Bau is one of the most renowned exhibition venues in Europe. As an internationally networked exhibition house without a collection, we show not only traditional exhibitions but also experimental and cross-genre formats.

Gropius Bau is part of KBB – Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes in Berlin GmbH, the common foundation for three of Germany’s most important cultural institutions: the Berlin International Film Festival, Haus der Kulturen der Welt and the Berliner Festspiele with the Haus der Berliner Festspiele and the exhibition venue Gropius Bau.

With a thematic focus on art, society, postcolonialism, anti-discrimination and sustainability, the position involves strategic planning as well as developing programme and exhibition concepts, proposals for new programme lines and project formats including their transfer to existing structures and thematic priorities aligned with the vision of Gropius Bau.

In coordination with the director of Gropius Bau, you will conduct research, sound out current trends, developments and discourses at cultural, artistic, cultural policy and social levels and derive thematic approaches for programme content from this. You’ll develop and be responsible for conceptual content for major grant applications and realise the scheduling of exhibition projects. You will flesh out exhibition content and processes in consultation with the director and all involved departments of Gropius Bau and be responsible for the budget with regular reports to the management of Gropius Bau and the central administration of KBB GmbH.

You will lead and motivate the international team of the curatorial department including outreach and act as a contact person for employees and freelancers in your department as well as external project partners, publishers and editors. You will live up to your role-model function and motivate and inspire your team every day anew. You enjoy coaching and mentoring your staff and encourage personal development.

You will be expected to initiate partnerships with international institutions and exhibition venues as well as publication projects of Gropius Bau and to maintain our related local and international networks.

You are of interest to us if, as a curator, you actively contribute to shaping current discourses in contemporary art and are sensitive to the special concerns of a non-profit cultural institution and of artists.

In your work, you employ transdisciplinary strategies and have ideas with international appeal. You have excellent knowledge of global contemporary and modern art, especially in the fields of society, postcolonialism and sustainability, and are very well networked within the art world.

You have leadership skills, experience managing organisational units as well as with public structures and you value working in a team. You promote inclusion and diversity with regard to topic and team development. A pronounced sensitivity to discrimination issues and anti-discrimination processes in non-profit institutions is a prerequisite.

You have completed an academic art/university degree relevant to the position, e.g. in the field of art history or curatorial studies or comparable knowledge and skills, as well as several years of professional experience in a similar position. International experience is advantageous. You can express yourself extremely well in spoken and written English and German in accordance with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (level C1). Skills in a third language are desirable. Good knowledge of simple and diversity-sensitive language is an advantage.

If we have sparked your interest in this exciting position, you can find detailed information, and how you can apply here.