Malene Vest Hansen

Malene Vest Hansen is an art historian and art critic specialized in modern and contemporary art working with, mainly feminist, politics and historiographies of art, identities, curating, exhibitions, and art museums.

Vest Hansen holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Copenhagen with the dissertation Sophie Calle: Identitetsbilleder og social arkæologi (2001). She was co-founder and co-editor of Periskop: forum for kunsthistorisk debat (1992-2012), Sum – magazine for contemporary art (2007-2009) and co-editor of the books Kuratering af Samtidskunst (Museet for Samtidskunst 2011), Curatorial Challenges: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Contemporary Curating (Routledge 2019), and Curating the Contemporary in the Art Museum (Routledge 2023). Her work on contemporary art, in particular conceptual and feminist art, art in public space, curating, biennialization, museum and exhibitions histories have been published in journals such as Art Journal, Kunstbulletin, Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, Nordisk Museologi, Etudes Germaniques, and anthologies including Border Poetics De-limited (2007), Plats, poetik och politik (2010) Genuspedagogiske Gärninger (2012), Performing Archives/Archives of Performance (2013), Ny Kulturteori (2019), and Museums at the Post-Digital Turn (2019).

Vest Hansen is currently Principle Investigator of the research project Curating the Contemporary: An Exhibition History of the Museum of Modern Art as a New Bildung Institution (2019-2023, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark). The project follows up on her work as PI of the Research Network for Studies in the Curatorial (2016-2019, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark). The network gathered international, primarily Nordic, researchers and curators from both academia and museums and exhibitionary institutions.

These projects engage in different ways with exhibitions as a primary site of cultural exchange, as highly visible showcases, producers of knowledge, and historically embedded events, establishing meanings of art and cultural identity. The aim is to explore the history of temporary exhibitions, how they continue to increase in cultural significance and how the changing politics of curating transform the museum as a Bildung institution. Among the outputs from the projects are the international research conference Curatorial Challenges (2016), and the anthologies Curatorial Challenges: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Contemporary Curating (2019) and Curating the Contemporary in the Art Museum (2023), both books published in the series Routledge Research in Art Museums and Exhibitions.

Vest Hansen worked as an art critic for Dagbladet Politiken (1990-1999) and has contributed to journals and magazines such as Art Journal, Kunstkritikk.no, Webmagasinet Forum, Øjeblikket, Septynios menos dienos, Atlas, and Kunstbulletin.

Vest Hansen is Associate Professor of Art History at University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and a member of the Danish Arts Council.

I investigate changing concepts of art, curating of exhibitions and the role of museums. Presently, I am PI and conduct the art history research project: Curating the contemporary: An Exhibiting History of the Museum of Modern Art as a new Bildung institution (Funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research FKK1-project 2019-2023). The project is following up on my work as PI of the interdisciplinary Research Network for Studies in the Curatorial,( funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research 2015-2017), the network gathered international, primarily Nordic, researchers and curators from both academia and museums and exhibitionary institutions, one important output of this is the anthology Curatorial Challenges: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Contemporary Curating (Routledge 2019).

I teach Contemporary art (on a regular basis (Art History BA, modul 1) and also teach and advise in the following areas:

• curating and museum studies
• exhibition history
• contemporary art and modern art and theories
• feminist art history and theori
• art in public space
• conceptual art
• history painting (Nicolas Poussin)

Malene Vest Hansen – CURRICULUM VITAE

Academic positions

2013–             Associate professor, Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen

2009-2013       Postdoc Research Fellow, Dept. of Arts and Cultural Studies, section

for Art History, UCPH, project: Curating as a Cultural Phenomenon

2007-2008       Associate professor, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts,Copenhagen

2006-2007       Lecturer, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen

2002-2005       Postdoc Research Fellow Dept. of Arts and Cultural Studies, UCPH,

research project: Contemporary art interventions in public space

1997-1999       Visiting Scholar, Dept. of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University NYC

1996-2002       PhD in Art History, Dept. of Arts and Cultural Studies, UCPH. Thesis in contemporary art with the title Sophie Calle: Identitetsbilleder og social arkæologi [Sophie Calle: Images of Identity and social archaeology] (Advisors: Øystein Hjort and Christina Kiaer)

Academic awards

1995               Gold Medal from the University of Copenhagen for Prize Thesis En akademisk fantasme. Nicolas Poussin og repræsentationsproblemet i 1600-tallet [A Phantasm of Academia: Nicolas Poussin and the Problem of Representation in 17th Century Painting]

Research grants

2019               Danish Council for Independent Research funding for FKK-1 project, 2 years: Curating the Contemporary: An Exhibition History of the Museum of Modern art as a New Bildung Institution

                      https://artsandculturalstudies.ku.dk/research/curating-the-contemporary/

2014               The Danish Research Council funding for the Research Network for Studies in the Curatorial, 2 years

http://artsandculturalstudies.ku.dk/research/focus/studiesinthecuratorial/

2012               The Novo Nordisk Foundation for Art History, travel grant for field research

2002               2 years Postdoc grant from The Danish National Research Council of the Humanities

2002               The Novo Nordisk Foundation for Art History, grant

1996               3 years PhD grant from Danish National Research Council for the Humanities

Research and administration assignments

2023-      Advisory Board member, Center for Practice-based Art (PASS), funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation

2020-2025       Advisory Board member, The Feminist Legacy in Art Museums (PI: Ulla Jørgensen and Sigrun Åsebø), funded by the Norwegian Research Council

2022–            Member of steering commitee, CultureSustain research    Network (PI Prof Ane Hejlskov, AU)funded by the Research Council Denmark

2019-2020       PI of Curating the Contemporary: An Exhibition History of the Museum of Modern art as a New Bildung Institution

2017-2021       Board member Statens Kunstfonds Repræsentantskab /Danish Arts Council

2016–2018       Member of the Research committee, Dept Arts and Cultural Studies, UCPH

2014–             Member of the Ministry of Culture’s panel of research assessment in museums, the section of art history

2014–2017       PI of Research Network for Studies in the Curatorial (and founder with Anne Folke Henningsen)

2011–             Member of the Steering Group, Dansk Center for Museumsforskning [The Danish Centre for Museum Studies]

2013-2017       Founder and head of Copenhagen Consortium: Kuratorisk Forskningsforum

2012–2015       Board member, NORDIK Nordic committee of art history

2012–2015       Vicepresident, AICA, Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art

2010–2011       Co-founder of Network for Curating and Museum Studies, UCPH

2009–2012       Board member, The Novo Nordisk Foundation Art History Project

2005-2015       Board member, AICA, Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art

2005-2011       President of AICA Denmark

Courses in Research and Project Management

2019               Leading Research – a leadership Course, UCPH

2016               Research Project Management Course, UCPH

2011               Lyst til Ledelse, UCPH

2010               Talentudviklingskursus for unge forskere, UCPH

Organizer of international conferences, selected

• Curating the Contemporary at the Art Museum SMK/UCPH March 12-13 2020 (postponed)
• Curatorial Challenges University of Copenhagen May 26-27 2016 http://artsandculturalstudies.ku.dk/conferencecuratorial/Nye udfordringer for universitetsmuseer? Danish Center for Museum Research/University of Copenhagen February 28 www.museumsforskning.dk
• Inclusion and Exclusion: Constructions of Identity in Museums’ Collection Praxis, Danish Center for Museum Research/UCPH, 2012, www.museumsforskning.dk
• Let’s get critical: The Novo Nordisk Foundation Art History Project, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen Cph. 27/2-28/2 2009, http://picolo.kunstakademiet.dk/nnf/index.php

Doctoral programme assignments

2020–               PhD advisor Tom Hermansen

2019-2020       Postdoc adviser (Adjunktpædogikum faglig vejleder) for Kerry Greaves, UCPH

2019-2020       Postdoc adviser (Adjunktpædogikum faglig vejleder) for Kristian Handberg, UCPH

2017               PhD adviser for David Windfield Normann, UCPH

2016-2017       Postdoc adviser (adjunktpædagogikum) for Franziska Bork-Petersen, UCPH

2013               PhD adviser for Michael Kjær, UCPH

2011-2012       Conductor of PhD-course Studies in the Curatorial, UCPH (http://phd.hum.ku.dk/Cultlitart/courses/studies_in_the_curatorial)

2004               Adviser and keynote at Doctoral Course Grenser og rammer, Nationalt Forskerutbildningskurs, Tromsø Universitet (9/11-13/11)

Networks, selected

2019–             The Center-Periphery Divide? Scandinavian Network for Exhibition Studies

2015–2018       Research Network for Studies in the Curatorial (co-founder) http://artsandculturalstudies.ku.dk/research/focus/studiesinthecuratorial/

2010–             Netværk for Kuratering og Museumsstudier (co-founder), IKK

2005–             PSi, Performance Studies international

1991–             AICA, association internationale des critiques d’art

2004-2006       Museologisk Forskernetværk

Editorial boards

2015– 2017      Perspective, The National Gallery of Denmark http://www.perspective.smk.dk

2007-2012       Co-founder and co-editor of SUM magazine for contemporary art

1993–2012       Co-founder and co-editor of Periskop. Forum for Kunsthistorisk debat [Journal on Art History and Theory], University of Copenhagen

Other

1990-1998       Art critic for the Danish daily newspaper Dagbladet Politiken

Danish, English;

German and French, (Latin and ancient Greek)