Florentine Muhry
PhD Project "Rasheed Araeen. Historiography as aesthetic practice"
Florentine Rungrama Muhry's research project is dedicated to the aesthetic practice of the artist, curator, activist, and author Rasheed Araeen (*1935, Karachi, lives in London) between 1968-95. By juxtaposing works, performances, texts, and his work as a curator, this dissertation analyses to what extent Araeen tests modes of historiography as aesthetic practice to critically engage with the hegemonic Western art canon and its selective strategies. The aim of the dissertation is to cast postcolonial perspectives on Western art history and to link the analysis of aesthetic practices with discourses on racism, colonialism, imperialism, and migration.
About
Florentine Rungrama Muhry studied history and art history at the University of Vienna, Sorbonne-Paris IV and University of Graz. After her studies, she worked as a curatorial assistant at the Halle für Kunst Lüneburg in 2017 and at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg in the photography and new media department in 2019. From 2020 to 2022, she was assistant curator at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf. Since April 2022, she has been a research assistant in the DFG Research Training Group 2477 "Aesthetic Practice" at the Institute for Fine Arts and Art Studies at the University of Hildesheim. Her PhD project focuses on the political works of Rasheed Araeen's works between 1968–95 and his postcolonial aesthetic practice. Since 2018 she also runs the art space www.muhry.com, writes commissioned texts and works as a freelance curator.
Short CV
Studies
2017: MA in Art History, University of Vienna
2013: BA in History, University of Vienna
2012: Bachelor of Arts in History, Ersamus, University of Sorbonne IV, Paris
2009: Bachelor of Arts in History, University of Graz
Personal Experience (Selection)
Since 2022: Research assistant in the DFG Research Training Group 2477 "Aesthetic Practice", Institute of Fine Arts and Art Studies, University of Hildesheim
2020–2022: K20K21 Art Collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf: Scientific trainee
2019: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Dept. of Photography and New Media: curatorial assistant
2017–18: Halle für Kunst Lüneburg: curatorial assistance
2015–16: Galerie Andreas Huber, Vienna: gallery assistance, exhibition support
2013: Les Archives Nationales - Pierrefitte sur Seine, Paris, Internship
Freelance Curatorial Projects
2022:
- When it moves, strengthening is skin, performance programme, Kunstverein Bielefeld and Kunstverein Dortmund, with Paolo Baggi as part of NRW+ Residence.
- Organisation of an artist talk between Jutta Koether and Sabeth Buchmann, as part of the co-conceived talk series "K21 Encounters", at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf.
2019:
- Anniversary exhibition. 30 years Künstlerhaus Wendenstrasse", Hamburg
- "Sketch I & II", music performance series, Hall of Art Lüneburg
2018:
- ongoing: "muhry", exhibition space, Hamburg
2017:
- "How far to open up?", with Cathrin Mayer, Forum Stadtpark, Graz
2016:
- "At the Cliffs of River Rhine", with Cathrin Mayer, Oslo10, Basel
Prizes, Scolarships
2022:
- Goethe Institut, scholarship, research trip for curators, Bangkok
- NRW+ Residence Programme, Award for Curators, Münster
2016:
- FemQueer, scholarship ÖH-University Vienna, master thesis
2016:
- European Forum Alpbach, IG Vienna, scholarship
Honorary Activities In The Field Of Art
2017: European Forum Alpbach, IG Vienna, Standing Committee
2017-18: Burschenschaft Hysteria, Vienna, Librarian
Contributions and Publications
2024: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, „Time Collapses in on itself; it is not linear; it is a boomerang. Review about Isaac Julien at K21“, Texte zur Kunst 34., Edition 133, Restitution (March 2024): pp. 152–57
2024: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, „Wandernde Gedanken“ in: Katharina Höglinger, If you don‘t believe in yourself someone else should, Vienna: Verlag für moderne Kunst, 2024, pp. 6–13.
2021: "Annotated Biography on Georges Braque." In: exhibition cat. Düsseldorf, Georges Braque. Inventor of Cubism. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2021, Munich 2021, pp. 215-231.
2021: "Vom Bellen und Kriechen als Praktiken der Enthüllung. Joseph Beuys und Pope.L“. In: exhib.cat. Düsseldorf, Every Man is an Artist. Cosmopolitan Exercises with Joseph Beuys. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen 2021, Berlin 2021, pp. 88-102.
2020: Huber, Cécile / Muhry, Florentine: "Die eigene Stimme finden." In: Ausst.-Kat. Düsseldorf, Coming to Voice. Graduates of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 2020. art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2021, pp. 7-13.
2020: "Babenhausen." In: exhib.cat. Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nord-rhein-Westfalen, 2020; Paris, Centre Pompidou 2021. Hito Steyerl. I Will Survive. Leipzig 2020, pp. 9-17.
2020: "The Empty Center." In: ibid, pp. 18-27.
2020: "Normality 1-X." In: ibid, pp. 28-40.
2019: Muhry, Florentine: "Gesellschaft verändern." In: Esther Ruelfs, Tulga Beyerle (eds.): exhib.cat. Hamburg 2019, Amateur Photography. From Bauhaus to Instagram. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. Heidelberg, pp. 130-133.
2019: "Hope is a Dangerous Thing. Elisa Barrera." In Almanac. London / Turin. Acess: http://www.muhry.com/img/Text_Florentine%20Muhry%20on%20Elisa%20Barrera.pdf
2017: „Im Überfluss die Orientierung finden, Laura Hinrichsmeyer: Kennen Sie diese Frau, 4.–21.5.2017, Gärtnergasse, Wien“, all-over, Nr. 13 (Herbst 2017): 55–60. (peer-review)
Ongoing: Accompanying and press texts for exhibitions, including: Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund: When it moves, strengthening its skin (2022); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf: Dialogues in Change (2022); Galerie Thomann, Vienna: Axel Jonsson (2022); Galerie Wonnerth-Dejaco, Vienna: Katharina Höglinger (2022); Kunstverein Rheinlande-Pfalz, Düsseldorf: Maximiliane Baumgartner (2021); Galerie Lucas Hirsch, Düsseldorf: Elisa Barrera (2021); Clages Galerie, Cologne: Claus Richter (2021).
Publications As Editor:
Magdalena Los, Kalte Hütte, muhry, Münster 2022.
Julija Zaharijević, Million Dinar Baby, muhry, Hamburg 2018.
How far to open up? (Hg.). Ausst.-Kat. Graz, Forum Stadtpark, 2017.
Lectures
16/02/2023:
Panel discussion with Meriam Bousselmi, Simone Niehoff, Simon Niemann: "A Conversation about Critique — und Kritik der Kritik,“ within lecture: Critical Aesthetic Practices, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim.
23/6/2023:
CfP conference presentation: "Radical Resistance and Transformative Aesthetics. Rasheed Araeen's Postcolonial Approach to Conceptual Art," London’s Art Networks and Marcel Broodthaers in the 1970s, Conference, Chelsea College of Arts, London.
26/02/2024:
“The Golden Verses. Rasheed Araeen and the question of multiculturalism”, lecture within the lecture series, Arts and Migration, Chelsea Art College, University of Arts London.
17/04/2024:
“Making Myself Visible. Rasheed Araeen and the Self-Portrait”, lecture within the lecture series on Rasheed Araeen, Agha Khan University, Karachi.
Teaching
Summer semester 2023:
Seminar for BA and MA students: Post- und dekoloniale Kunstpraktiken am Beispiel des British Black Arts Movement in Großbritannien, SoSe 2023, Universität Hildesheim
