The New Rectorate Is Looking Forward to Its Mission and a Good Collaboration!

The beginning of the winter term sees the new Rectorate of the Academy of Fine Arts under the direction of Johan Frederik Hartle officially start their work. Ingeborg Erhart , the distinguished curator, art historian, and former director of Tiroler Künstler*schaft, and the experienced cultural manager Celestine Kubelka , production manager for the Wiener Festwochen of many years, will be supporting the art historian’s endeavors. The members of the new Rectorate point out that the coming months’ main focus will be on intensifying internal dialogue and the increased integration of existing competences as well as sharpening the Academy’s artistic and scientific profile. The new Rectorate finds itself fully committed to the work of its predecessors particularly as far as equality and diversity policies are concerned.

In addition to the focus on research and internationalization, the Rector will concentrate on honing the relationship between art and the public sphere. Ingeborg Erhart will take over the Vice-Rectorate for Art and Teaching, break new ground in the field of exhibitions, and have the promotion of both students and alumni on her agenda. Celestine Kubelka will be in charge of the Departments of Finance and Personnel, as well as the logistical challenges connected to the general refurbishment and issues of facility planning and relocation. Particularly the creation of additional room and the Academy’s repositioning in public space will accompany the new Rectorate as its key tasks and keep bringing the three perspectives together.

Johan Frederik Hartle , born in 1976, did his doctorate in Münster, Westphalia. He was Interim Rector of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design at which he held a professorship for art and media theory. After obtaining his doctorate, he was granted research fellowships for Jerusalem and Rome before he became Assistant Professor for art philosophy and cultural philosophy at Amsterdam University. Hartle was Adjunct Professor of aesthetics at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and is an Associated Member of the Institute for the Humanities of Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. His publications explore positions in contemporary art, institutional art theories, political aesthetics, and the legacy of Red Vienna. The Rector’s responsibilities comprise research, academia, and international issues.

Ingeborg Erhart , born in Innsbruck in 1971, studied art history in Innsbruck and Vienna. Her doctoral thesis dealt with the subject Vanishing Voids. Motive des Verschwindens in der zeitgenössischen Kunst (Motifs of Disappearance in Contemporary Art). She was artistic director and co-manager of the association of artists Tiroler Künstler*schaft from 2001 and realized about 150 exhibition projects, which she accompanied as a curator and author during her eighteen years in office. From 2004, she served on various advisory boards and juries: she was a member of the Tyrolean cultural advisory board for contemporary art and architecture until 2006, juror for supportive acquisitions on behalf of the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria for art in Tyrol until 2010, and juror for supportive acquisitions on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture until 2010. She taught as a part-time lecturer at the Institute of Architectural Theory of Innsbruck University from 2013 to 2019, most recently on curatorial practices in the winter term 2018/2019. From 2008, Ingeborg Erhart was responsible for Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Tirol (Art in Public Space Tyrol). She is a board member of the art and architecture school bilding in Innsbruck.

Celestine Kubelka , born in Vienna in 1961, studied journalism and philosophy at Vienna University. She worked in market research, as a personnel recruitment consultant, and as a commercial executive for the Gallery Heike Curtze before she assumed responsibility for various art and cultural projects in Austria and abroad as an independent cultural manager, collaborating with Zürcher Theaterspektakel, Steirischer Herbst, Schauspiel Frankfurt, Kunsthalle Wien, a.o., from 1992 to 2010. She managed the Mozartband, lectured at Vienna’s WUK (on event organization and technology, 2000), taught the course Festival Production Management as part of The Festival Academy program in Antwerp, Belgium (January 2018), and has given lectures, most recently at the World Heritage Congress in Cuenca, Spain (November 2018). From 1994, Celestine Kubelka held the post of production manager for the Wiener Festwochen, being assigned full commercial and organizational responsibility for both personnel and budget.