01.03.2022

The application process for the sole management of the Kunsthaus Graz produced applications from both Austria and abroad – from Canada, Switzerland, Germany and Slovenia, among other countries. A high-ranking hearing commission has unanimously decided in favour of Andreja Hribernik.

The search was for a high-profile personality from the art and cultural sector who will head up the Kunsthaus Graz as sole director from January 1, 2023, for a period limited to five years. The decision was made for Hribenik. ‘Andreja Hribernik has convinced us with her outstanding dedication and competence; she has turned a regional Slovenian museum into an actor within international networks and at the same time aroused the enthusiasm of the local public for the museum by means of a range of educational programmes’, according to Stella Rollig, General Director of the Belvedere and the commission’s spokesperson.

Besides Rollig, the external experts on the commission comprised Yilmaz Dziewior (Director Museum Ludwig, Cologne), Hermann Eisenköck (1998, co-founder of Architektur Consult) as well as Nina Zimmer (Deputy Director, Kunstmuseum Basel, Director, Kunstmuseum – Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern since 2016); also sitting on the commission were Michael Lehofer (Head of the Supervisory Board of the Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH), Christine Braunersreuther (member of the Supervisory Board of the Kunsthaus Graz GmbH) as well as the management of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, Wolfgang Muchitsch and Alexia Getzinger The compliance officer of the Province of Styria, Sabine Schulze-Bauer, and department head Patrick Schnabl took part as assessors.

‘With the restructuring of the Kunsthaus since spring 2020, we jointly – the Province of Styria and the City of Graz – have made a firm commitment to the Kunsthaus Graz as a place of art and culture. I am therefore extraordinarily pleased that now, with a new director for the Kunsthaus Graz who can bring with her both innovative approaches and a measure of experience, this commitment we can not only strengthen further, but – I am convinced – can open a new chapter of success for our Kunsthaus Graz. I find Andreja Hribernik’s approach to increase accessibility, to seek out dialogue, to wish to network more vigorously with the active art scene in Graz and Styrian, and at the same time to aim at international links and cooperations, too, to be especially promising for the future development of the Kunsthaus Graz. I am pleased about the emphases and impulses that Andreja Hribernik will set in motion in the Kunsthaus Graz, and therefore in the Graz and Styrian art and cultural scene, as well,’ Regional Minister for Culture Christopher Drexler explains. Günter Riegler, City Minister for Culture, adds: ‘The Kunsthaus enjoys a high international profile as an architectural icon – Frau Hribernik will be measured by the extent to which the artistic positions on show will likewise attract a similarly high level of international acclaim, along the lines of the mission statement revised last year.’

The Kunsthaus Graz was designed in 2003 – when Graz was ‘European Capital of Culture’ – by British architects Sir Peter Cook and Colin Fournier. The remit was to create an architecturally unique exhibition venue that combines international contemporary art with both regional and local themes and tasks. The Kunsthaus Graz is dedicated to current social issues, initiates the creation of new artworks and carries out a wide range of educational and outreach projects. Moreover, it promotes engagement with art, design, architecture, and exhibitions per se. To achieve its visions, the Kunsthaus Graz collaborates with a network of partner institutions – worldwide and locally. The goal is to make it possible for all people to participate in art and culture, something reflected as much in the artistic programme as in the wide-ranging outreach and educational offerings. In spring 2020 the Kunsthaus Graz was split off and now exists as a subsidiary of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, owned equally by the Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH and the City of Graz.

‘The new management is tasked with continuing the internationally highly successful and remarkable course of the last two decades through powerfully appealing exhibitions on both the local and international art scene, and with further building upon the attractiveness of the institution for visitors. We are very pleased to have found with Andreja Hribernik an outstanding appointment for this highly responsible position. At the same time, we would like to once again thank at this point our former director of the Kunsthaus, Barbara Steiner, for her great commitment,’ in the words of the Universalmuseum Joanneum management, Wolfgang Muchitsch and Alexia Getzinger.

Andreja Hribernik has been the scientific, artistic and commercial director of the Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art Koroška, Slovenia since 2013. Previously, she worked at the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana and in the Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig. She completed her doctorate at the Institute for Humanist Studies in Ljubljana. ‘My particular focus is on the role of art in society. For this, I also engaged in my dissertation with the subject of “the museum as a place of utopia”. I am convinced that the Kunsthaus Graz can optimally combine global and regional developments,’ Hribernik says.

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Further picture material can be found at: Kunsthaus Graz

Kunsthaus Graz, Lendkai 1, 8020 Graz  

www.kunsthausgraz.at 

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Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or enquiries.

With kind regards

Daniela Teuschler
+43/664/8017-9214, daniela.teuschler@museum-joanneum.at

Anna Fras
+43/664/8017-9211, anna.fras@museum-joanneum.at

Stephanie Liebmann
+43/664/8017-9213, stephanie.liebmann@museum-joanneum.at

Alexandra Reischl
+43/699/1780-9002, alexandra.reischl@museum-joanneum.at