Dr. Friedrich von Bose
Friedrich von Bose is a curator and cultural anthropologist. Since October 2020, he is Head of Research and Exhibitions at the three ethnological museums in Leipzig, Dresden and Herrnhut, which are part of the Dresden State Art Collections. There, he is responsible for the exhibition and research programs as well as for the dramaturgical, content-related, and organizational implementation of the new conception of the sites.
From 2017 to 2020, Friedrich von Bose was Deputy Chief Curator of the Humboldt Lab, Humboldt University’s interdisciplinary exhibitions and programs at the Humboldt Forum. Here he was jointly responsible for the initial operation of the exhibition spaces as well as for the conception and implementation of the inaugural exhibition »After Nature«.
The close interlocking of theory and practice of museums and exhibitions and the examination of planning and design processes are the linchpin of his curatorial practice, research, and teaching. They also run through earlier projects and research contexts. For example, he completed his PhD at HU Berlin with an ethnographic study of the planning process of the Berlin Humboldt Forum (Das Humboldt-Forum. Eine Ethnografie seiner Planung, Kadmos 2016, https://www.kulturverlag-kadmos.de/buch/das-humboldt-forum.html).
From 2009 to 2015, he was lecturer and research associate at the Institute for European Ethnology at HU, where he co-founded the Berlin Museum Lab, and at the Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies. Subsequently, he was a member of the planning staff of the Stadtmuseum Stuttgart as well as a Senior Consultant at a PR and communications agency in Basel/CH. He is an Associate Member at the Centre for the Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH, https://www.carmah.berlin/) at HU as well as a lecturer in culture reflexive management at the Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Basel (https://kulturmanagement.philhist.unibas.ch/de/studienangebot/das-kulturreflexives-management/).
Staatliche Ethnographische Sammlungen Sachsen
GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig
Johannisplatz 5-11
04103 Leipzig
Monographs & Books
von Bose, F. 2016. Das Humboldt Forum. Eine Ethnografie seiner Planung. Berlin: Kulturverlag Kadmos.
https://www.kulturverlag-kadmos.de/programm/details/das_humboldt-forum
Articles in Edited Volumes
von Bose, F. 2020. »Das Museum der Zukunft ist auch nicht mehr das, was es mal war. Zur Zeitlichkeit im Museum.« In Das Museum der Zukunft. 43 neue Beiträge zur Diskussion über die Zukunft des Museums, edited by schnittpunkt and Baur, J. Bielefeld: transcript, 269–274.
von Bose, F., Förster, L. 2019. »Concerning curatorial practice in ethnological museums: An epistemology of postcolonial debate.« In Curatopia: Museums and the future of curatorship, edited by McCarthy, C, Schorch, P. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 44-55.
von Bose, F. 2019. »Der Grundriss. Zum Verhältnis von Museumsarchitektur und kuratorischer Praxis.« In Museumsethnologie. Eine Einführung. Theorien, Debatten, Praktiken, edited by Edenheiser, I., Förster, L. Berlin: Reimer, 358-359.
Articles
von Bose, F., Meijer-van Mensch, L. 2021. »Herausforderungen postkolonialer Provenienzforschung zu ethnologischen Sammlungen.« In Bestandsaufnahme, special issue. Dresdner Kunstblätter, 3: 58-63.
Exhibitions
Pieken, G. (chief curator), von Bose, F. (deputy chief curator), Geißler, A. (curator), Widmann, K. (curator), Ollesch, M. (project manager). Nach der Natur/After Nature. Exhibition. Humboldt Forum Berlin. 15 July 2021 - 31 December 2026.
https://www.humboldtforum.org/en/programm/dauerangebot/exhibition/after-nature-16464/
Bach, S. (curator), von Bose, F. (chief curator), Breß, K. (project leader), Meijer-van Mensch, L. (director), Wohlfarth, S. (educational programs). REINVENTING GRASSI.SKD (2020-2023). Exhibition. GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig. 1 October 2020 - 31 December 2023.
https://grassi-voelkerkunde.skd.museum/ausstellungen/reinventing-grassiskd-2021-23/
von Bose, F. (curator), Schneider, B. »250 Jahre jung!« – Alexander von Humboldt-Fest. Exhibition. Goethe Institut, Stiftung Humboldt Forum im Berliner Schloss. Humboldt Forum Berlin. 13 September 2019 - 14 September 2019.
https://www.interdisciplinary-laboratory.hu-berlin.de/de/content/250-jahre-jung-alexander-von-humboldt-fest-im-humboldt-forum/
Talks & Presentations
von Bose, F. Facing colonial history, building a postcolonial present: Reflections on the »contemporary« in museum practice. Talk at the Manila Museums Summit »Histories and Other Stories: Figuring Out the Times in Museums«, Manila, Philippines. Alliance of Greater Manila Area Museums. Virtual. 26 May 2021.
von Bose, F. Kuratieren als eine hoffnungsvolle Praxis. Potenziale des Ausstellens in Zeiten der Krise. Talk at the Lecture Series »2020. Ein Jahr von Chancen und Wellbeing«, Philipps-Universität Marburg. Virtual. 23 June 2021.
Allemeyer, M.L., von Bose, F., Döring, D., Vogel, C. Wie Wissenschaft ausstellen? Über aktuelle Planungen zukünftiger Wissenschaftsausstellungen und -museen. Panel Debate at the 11. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Universitätssammlungen, Universität Münster. 12 July 2019.
von Bose, F. On the question of (not) showing. Religion as a category of knowledge. Panel Presentation at the International Symposium »Museums and the Work of Reconciliation and Remembrance«, Jewish Museum Berlin. 11 May 2019.
von Bose, F. Vom unmöglichen Weltmuseum. Talk at the Panel Debate »Weltobjekte. Die Neuverteilung der Kunst« with Beyer, A., Juneja, M.; chaired by Bruhn, M., Deliss, C., Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe. 12 June 2019.
von Bose, F. Das Museum und die postkoloniale Kritik. Paradoxien der Intervention. Evening Talk at the Iwalewahaus, Bayreuth. 27 June 2018.
von Bose, F. Paradoxes of Museum Intervention: The Laboratory Principle. Evening Talk at the »SMU Arts and Culture Matters Series«, Centre 42, Singapore. 19 March 2018.
Invited Moderation/ Comment
von Bose, F. Comment »Disturbing voids«. Staged Conference »The Milieu of the Dead, Part 2: Absences. The Afterlife of Slavery and the Gaps in the Archive« with Sharpe, C. and Hartman, S., St. Elisabeth Kirche Berlin. 5 December 2017.