Dr. Hanna Barbara Hölling
Profile
Dr. Hanna Barbara Hölling Forschungprofessorin
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Address
Berner Fachhochschule
Bern Academy of the Arts
Forschung
Fellerstrasse 11
3027 Bern
Activities
Responsibilities
Project Lead • Natureculture Lab • Swiss National Science Foundation • BFH Network Grant Strategic Themes • 2025
Teaching
Degree programmes
Y Module, Bern University of the Arts 2020-
PhD History of Art, University College London 2016-
Doctoral Summer School, Harvard Art Museum, Havard University, 2017-
PhD external examiner, US and UK Universities, 2016-
MA History of Art, University College London, 2018-2022
BA History of Art, University College London, 2016-2022
BA History of Art, Materials and Technology, University College London, 2016-2022
MA / PhD Cultures of Conservation, Bard Graduate Center New York, 2013-15
MA Preservation of the Moving Image University of Amsterdam, guest lecturer, 2009-13
MA Material Art History, University of Amsterdam, guest lecturer, 2009-13
MA Conservation of New Media and Digital Information, guest lecturer and mentor, 2006-09
Subjects
Philosophy, theory, and history of conservation
Subjects in art history and theory and in American and European Art created since the 1960s
Media and technologies of the moving image
Subjects in critical heritage studies and museology
Critical conservation and experimental preservation
Research
Specialisations
Art and culture since the 1960s
Electronic art and media
Film and video art
Performance and performance-based art
Installation art
Conservation ethics, aesthetics and philosophy
Philosophical aesthetics
Landscape and environmental politics
Mechanisms of institutionalisation of art and culture
Focus areas
Hanna works at the intersection of art history and theory, material culture studies, and conservation. Her primary research and teaching interests lie, among others, in ethics, aesthetics, and philosophy in and of conservation, contemporary and post-war art, technology-based media, and the concepts of time, change, identity, and archive (as discourse and physical space) both in artworks and in objects of material culture. In conservation, she focuses on the epistemic dimensions of conservation, that is, knowledge derived from, and generated by, diverse practices, theories, and cultures of conservation. Most important outcomes of her research on these topics were published in her sole-authored monographs: Paik’s Virtual Archive: On Time, Change and Materiality in Media Art (University of California Press, 2017) and Revisions-Zen for Film (Bard Graduate Center, 2015). Revisions accompanied an eponymous exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in New York (17 September 2015–22 February 2016). In addition, her research has led to a publication of edited volumes: Object—Event—Performance: Art, Materiality and Continuity since the 1960s (Bard Cultural Histories of the Material World series, 2021) and The Explicit Material: Inquiries on the Intersection of Curatorial and Conservation Cultures (co-edited with Francesca Bewer and Katharina Ammann; Brill 2019). Hanna’s most recent research concerns the afterlives of Fluxus events, objects and ephemera and the ontology and aesthetics of performance. She is also interested in the critical questions considering the materiality of landscape and land and environmental art, including their ecological and political implications. Aspects of this research materialized in an anthology Landscape 1: Institute for Land and Environmental Art (Vexer 2020) co-edited with Johannes M. Hedinger.
CV
Biography
- Dr. Hanna B. Hölling is Research Professor at the University of the Arts in Bern, Switzerland, and Honorary Fellow in the Department of History of Art, University College London. Before these appointments, she was Associate Professor, History of Art, Materials and Technology in the Department of History of Art, University College London; Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professor at the Bard Graduate Center in New York. She obtained her PhD from the University of Amsterdam, Department of Art History and Cultural Studies and the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis on the questions of time, change and materiality in the conservation of media installations (2013). Prior to her work in the academe, she was Head of Conservation at the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany.
Projects
Other projects
2023 Visiting Professorship, University of Rio de Janeiro, University of Brasilia
2019-23 Global Engagement Fund, University College London
2019-2020 Terra Foundation for American Art Fellowship, Smithsonian American Art Museum: Fluxus and the Material Legacy of Intermediality
2019 Dean’s Strategic Fund Grant for Education and Research Activities, University College London
2016-2017 Getty Conservation Scholarship, Getty Conservation Center / Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
2013-2015 Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professorship, Cultures of Conservation, Bard Graduate Center, New York
2010-2011 The Courtauld Institute of Art, London: The Material Life of Things Research Forum Fellowship
2009-2013 Dutch Scientific Research Foundation NWO PhD Research Fellowship, University of Amsterdam
Publications
Chapters
Hölling, Hanna B. (2021). Zeit, Materialität, Authentizität in Paiks Medienkunst / Time, Materiality and Authenticity in Paik's Media Art. In Engel, C. (Ed.), Nam June Paik: Pre Bell Man - Eine Ikone der Medienkunst /An Icon of Media Art (German, English). (pp. 70-73). Frankfurt: Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt.
Hölling, Hanna B. Serexhe, B., Wharton, G. (2013). Interview: Hanna Hölling, Bernhard Serexhe, Glenn Wharton. In Park, M., Seong, E.K., Sang, A.P. (Eds.), Nam June Paik Art Center Interviews. (pp. 90-118). Seoul: Nam June Paik Arts Center.
Hölling, Hanna B. (2010). Konservierung. In Hedinger, J.M., Gossolt, M. (Eds.), Lexikon zur zeitgenössischen Kunst von Com&Com. (pp. 83-84). Zürich: Niggli Publishers.
Journal articles
Hölling, Hanna B. (2020). Archiefactiveringen. Metropolis M, 41 (1), 42-45.
Hölling, Hanna B. (2020). Archival Activations: Writings by Nam June Paik. Metropolis M online.
Hölling, Hanna B. (2018). Archive and Documentation. Art and Documentation Journal, 1 (17), 19-28.
Hölling, Hanna B. Scholte, Tatja, Stigter, Sanneke, van de Vall, Renee (2011). Reflections on a Biographical Approach to Contemporary Art Conservation. International Council of Museums, Conservation Committee ICOM CC, 1.
Invited lectures and seminars (since 2018)
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (1 October 2020). Ceci n’est pas une Paik: Materiality and Knowledge in the Conservation of Media Art. Lecture delivered on the occasion of Paik Soiree, Free University of Amsterdam and Stedelijk Museum (online). Amsterdam.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (1 October 2020). What is Landscape? An introductory seminar to Alps Art Academy International Summer School. Tenna, Grisons, Switzerland.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (26 September 2020). Critical Grounds: Institute for Land and Environmental Art--Introduction to an international conference Critical Grounds: Art and Politics of Landscape. Tenna, Grisons, Switzerland.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (21 February 2020). Presentation on film and media conservation delivered on the occasion of the workshop Conservation and Philosophy organized by Tate Modern and Institute of Philosophy, University of London. University of London Institute in Paris.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (15 February 2020). Feedback and Feedforth: New Approaches to Nam June Paik – a response paper and discussion within a session organized by Gregory Zinman on the occasion of College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (12 December 2019). Unpacking the Score: Fluxus and the Material Legacy of Intermediality. Invited seminar delivered within the Smithsonian American Art Museum Lunch Bag Seminar Series. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara; Greyson, Saisha (22 November 2019). Art Bites Gallery Talk: Hanna Hölling and Saisha Grayson on Nam June Paik Global Grove. Presentation delivered within the public event series Art Bites Gallery Talk. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (10 May 2019). Unity and Diversity: Discipline Formation & Cultures of Expertise - Session chair and concluding remarks delivered on the occasion of The Making of Art Experience: Discipline Formation & Cultures of Expertise--Artechne international conference. Organized by University of Utrecht, University of Amsterdam, NICAS and Rijksmuseum at the University of Utrecht.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (23 April 2019). Keynote: Time and Memory in Fluxus Films, delivered on the occassion of the 5º Seminário de Artes Digitais (SAD) | 5th Seminar for Digital Arts, State University of Minas Gerais/Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (15 April 2019). On Performance, Archive and Conservation. Presentation delivered at the think tank on performance, media and archives at VALIE EXPORT Center, Linz, Austria.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (14 March 2019). Über die Begriffe der Zeit, Materialität, und Authentizität in Paiks Medienkunst. Lecture delivered on the occasion of the International Symposium addressing the aspects of conservation and restoration of media art (Ger: Internationale Tagung zu Fragen und Aspekten der Bewahrung und Restaurierung von Medienkunst). Museum of Communication Franfurt, Germany.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (7 November 2018). Die Digitalisierung und Konservierung von Kunst und Kulturgut, seminar delivered in collaboration with Thomas Gartmann, Bern University of the Applied Sciences.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (1 November 2018). Object, Event, Performance: Rethinking Materiality in Fluxus Intermedia. Lecture delivered at the symposium Kunst und Material: Repräsentation, Stofflichkeit, Prozesse | Art and Material: Representation, Materiality, Processes. SIK-ISEA | Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft | Swiss Institute for Art Research Zürich.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (October 2018). Perpetuating Change, Invited master class on media art and performance, Instituto Moreira Sales, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (June 2018), invited seminar on replication delivered on the occasion of Doctoral Summer Institute for Technical Studies in Art, Harvard Art Museums, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (April 2018). The Medium of Time and Transition, invited master class for MA and PhD students in Technical Art History, Utrecht University.
Organized colloquiums, symposiums and panels (since 2018)
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (23 February 23, 2018). Object—Event—Performance Art, Materiality, and Continuity since the 1960s. Session organized at the College Art Association 106th Annual Conference in Los Angeles, CA.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara and Salvador Muñoz-Viñas (26 June 2018). Musealization, panel and discussion co-convened on the occasion of the conference New Approaches in the Conservation of Contemporary Art, University of Applied Science, Cologne Institute for Conservation Science.
Hölling, Hanna Barbara (4 June 2018). “Born Digital,” panel convened on the occasion of MAPS Media Art preservation, Museum Ludwig, Budapest.
Exhibitions and curatorial work
Hölling, H.B. and Hedinger J.M. (2015). Videosalon (No of pieces: 8). [Exhibition]. Bard Graduate Center Residency, New York.
Hölling, H.B., Mircev, A., Lesnierowska, J., Magnin, E., Wrapner, C. (2024). Yet to Come: Experiments in Reverse-Engineering and Conseraving Performance. (No of pieces: 20) [Exhibition]. HKB Bern Academy of Arts.
Memberships
External memberships
College Art Association • CAA
Swiss Association of Art Historians • Vereinigung der Kunsthistorikerinnen und Kunsthistoriker in der Schweiz • VKKS
International Council of Museums Conservation Committee • ICOM CC
Institute of Conservation • ICON
Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art • INCCA
Awards
Language skills and intercultural knowledge
Language skills
- English - Native or bilingual proficiency
- German - Native or bilingual proficiency
- Italian - Professional working proficiency
- Polish - Native or bilingual proficiency
- Russian - Elementary proficiency
Intercultural knowledge
- Brazil
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- Netherlands
- Poland