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 and 1995. 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 and 1995 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

02/2020–01/2022: K20K21 Art Collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf: Scientific trainee

03/2019–12/2019: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Dept. of Photography and New Media: curatorial assistant

09/2017–11/2018: Halle für Kunst Lüneburg: curatorial assistance                    

01/2015–07/2016: Galerie Andreas Huber, Vienna: gallery assistance, exhibition support

01/2013: 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

2022: 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

2019: "Sketch I & II", music performance series, Halle für Kunst 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, Scholarships

2025: JRSP Post Doctoral Award, Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpturepark, Hornby Island, Canada

2022: Goethe Institut, scholarship, research trip for curators, Bangkok

2022: 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

2025: Upcoming: Florentine Muhry with Meriam Bousselmi, Simone Niehoff, Simon Niemann: "A Conversation about Critique - und Kritik der Kritik", in: Martina Grosse and Fiona MCGovern (eds.), Kritische Ästhetische Praxis, University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim.

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: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, "Annotated Biography on Georges Braque." In: exhibition catalog Düsseldorf, Georges Braque. Inventor of Cubism. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2021, Munich 2021, pp. 215-231. 

2021: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, "Barking and Crawling as Practices of Revelation. Joseph Beuys and Pope.L““. In: exhibition catalog 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: exhibition catalog Düsseldorf, Coming to Voice. Graduates of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf 2020. art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, 2021, pp. 7-13.

2020: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, "Babenhausen." In: exhibition catalog Düsseldorf, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-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: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, "Gesellschaft verändern." In: Esther Ruelfs, Tulga Beyerle (eds.): exhibition catalog Hamburg 2019, Amateur Photography. From Bauhaus to Instagram. Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg. Heidelberg, pp. 130-133.

2019: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, "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: Florentine Rungrama Muhry, „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 and Conferences

14/01/2025: "Making Myself Visible. Über Rasheed Araeens Identitätsverhältnis", Lecture at the Africa Art Colloquium, Free University Berlin, Germany.

07-09/11/2024: Conception, co-organization and co-moderation of the annual conference of the Research Training Group “Ästhetische Praxis”: Decolonial aesthetic practices?, University of Hildesheim, Germany (together with Thomas Lange and Meriam Bousselmi).

01–02/11/2024: „Why is the brick wall so thick and so high?“: Rasheed Araeen’s The Other Story and The Whole Story, University of Oxford, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, UK.

18/06/2024: “Making Myself Visible”: The question of identity in Rasheed Araeens aesthetic practices, Rasheed Araeen Study Day, RAW and University of Bristol, UK.

17/04/2024: “Making Myself Visible. Rasheed Araeen and the Self-Portrait”, lecture within the lecture series on Rasheed Araeen, Agha Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.

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, UK.

22-24/11/2023: Conception, co-organization and co-moderation of the conference Entangled Practices, University of Hildesheim (together with members of the Research Training Group “Aesthetic Practice”).

23/06/2023: 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, UK.

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, Germany.

Teaching

Winter semester 2024, University of Hildesheim:
Seminar for BA and MA students: Rasheed Araeens politische ästhetische Praxis zwischen 1968 und 1989

Summer semester 2023, University of Hildesheim:
Seminar for BA and MA students: Post- und dekoloniale Kunstpraktiken am Beispiel des British Black Arts Movement in Großbritannien