Søren Grammel
Is Director of Heidelberger Kunstverein since 2022.
Has worked as a Lecturer at ZHdK, Zurich University of the Arts, and as a Freelance Curator—among others for K21, Düsseldorf or Schinkel Pavillion, Berlin—from 2021 to 2022.
Has worked as Head of Art since 1960 / Contemporary Art and Head of the Museum of Contemporary Art at Kunstmuseum Basel from 2013 to 2020.
Worked as Director of Kölnischer Kunstverein from 2012 to 2013.
Worked as director of Grazer Kunstverein from 2005 to 2011 and in parallel was Curator-in-Residence at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna from 2009 to 2010.
Worked as Academic Lecturer and Independent Researcher at Kunsthochschule Kassel from 2004 to 2005.
Worked as Curator of International Contemporary Art at Kunstverein München from 2002 to 2004.
Was a Fellow of the “Young European Curators” program of the meanwhile defunct Germinations Europe Foundation (Bonn/Antwerp) from 2001 to 2002.
Has worked as Director at Videonale 9 in Bonn from 2000 to 2001.
Has worked as a Curatorial Assistant at Frankfurter Kunstverein from 1999 to 2000.
Studied Curatorial Studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London, from 1997 to 1998 (Master of Arts degree).
Studied Applied Cultural studies at the University of Hildesheim from 1993 to 1997 (Diploma).
Statement
A recurring interest in my curatorial practice is the linking of artistic discourses with social issues, for example in Circular Flow: On the Global Economy of Inequality (2019/2020), Martha Rosler & Hito Steyerl: War Games (2018), System und Symptom (2014), Public Folklore (2011), The Symbolic Commissioner (2010), Idealismusstudio (2008), Die Blaue Blume (2007), A Person Alone in A Room with Coca-Cola-Colored Walls (2006), We Invite all @sozialstaat (2005), Get Out! An Exhibition on the Subject of Going Away (2002), Eine Munition unter anderen (2000) or, It Is Hard to Touch the Real (2001–2006).
Exhibitions are imaginary places, temporary gatherings of different actors and ideas. They are forms that emphasize the synthetic nature of all concepts. As such, they operate with the awareness that “truth” is something artificial and temporary; non-total and mediated. Conceived in this sense, they may contribute to counteracting today's new tendencies toward totalitarianism.