Stefanie Böttcher becomes the new director of the Kunsthalle zu Kiel
She will take up her post in September 2026

The Kunsthalle zu Kiel at Kiel University (CAU) is delighted to announce the appointment of Stefanie Böttcher as its new director. She will take up her position in September 2026, succeeding Dr Anette Hüsch.

The Kunsthalle zu Kiel is the CAU's art museum and a unique institution. Only a few universities in Germany have their own art museum of this size and importance. We are very proud of this cultural flagship, which combines research and teaching with social transfer and at the same time enriches the cultural life of the city of Kiel and the state of Schleswig-Holstein. I am delighted that we are embarking on and shaping an exciting new phase of this special institution with Mrs Böttcher. (Claudia Ricarda Meyer, Chancellor of Kiel University)

Stefanie Böttcher takes up her post in Kiel at a special time for the institution: The Kunsthalle zu Kiel and the Collection of Classical Antiquities have been closed for renovation since 25 September 2023. In order to meet current national and international requirements for the presentation and storage of cultural artefacts, the Kunsthalle needs to be renovated. The building work is currently scheduled for completion in 2029.

I am delighted with the unique location of an art museum by the sea in Germany. The sea is a space for meditation, communication, transit and a place where geological and climatic upheavals can be seen. It forms a microcosm in which current changes are taking place and which is not isolated but connected to the whole world. A location on the periphery is suddenly transformed into a hub where the questions and conflicts of our time converge. I am looking forward to discovering and utilising the forces of this localisation - in terms of content and structure. (Stefanie Böttcher)

Böttcher's appointment is highly relevant for the CAU, the city of Kiel and the state of Schleswig-Holstein: The Kunsthalle will remain a museum institution that can be experienced at external locations during the period of closure due to the refurbishment. With the reopening of the building, it will reemerge as a lively place for art, research and the public, which fulfils modern requirements and at the same time secures its regional and national significance:

The current renovation phase marks a deep break in the history of the Kunsthalle zu Kiel. The traditional walls are being abandoned in order to fill the connection with the city and its inhabitants with new life. I am looking forward to this time of challenges and opportunities; to allowing the polyphony of art to resound in the public space and in society. We are going out with all our strength, says Böttcher.

Prof Dr Dirk Westerkamp, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, comments on the appointment of Stefanie Böttcher as the new Director of the Kunsthalle zu Kiel:

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities, with its broad range of subjects in art, cultural studies, history and linguistics, is the intellectual home of the Kunsthalle zu Kiel. The Faculty is delighted to have found such a competent, renowned and committed successor to Anette Hüsch in the management of the Kunsthalle in the person of Stefanie Böttcher. Stefanie Böttcher will utilise the close connection between the Kunsthalle and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities to network both with the city's culture and the state public. All colleagues at the faculty are looking forward to this.

Curriculum vitae:
Stefanie Böttcher (*1978) is an art historian and curator. She has been director of the Kunsthalle Mainz since 2015. Here she has curated solo exhibitions with Walid Raad, Latifa Echakhch, Joachim Koester, Lara Favaretto, Rabih Mroué and Ari Benjamin Meyers, among others. Another focus was on thematic group exhibitions dedicated to airspace, human and natural law and digital spaces. In 2017, she was curator of the Icelandic Pavilion at the Biennale Arte di Venezia. From 2007 to 2013, she worked as artistic director at Künstlerhaus Bremen, where she showed young international artists such as Lara Almarcegui, Ahmet Öğüt and Kateřina Šedá in solo exhibitions in Germany for the first time. She has worked as a guest curator at the Museums of Contemporary Art in Belgrade and Novi Sad, among others. Stefanie Böttcher regularly publishes on artists and contemporary art topics.