Susanne Clausen b. 1967
Overview
Susanne Clausen (born 1967) is a German-born British artist, curator, and professor of fine art at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, where she also serves as director of Reading International, a visual arts organization she founded in 2016 to commission exhibitions, performances, and public projects. Her artistic practice centers on interdisciplinary collaborations, particularly through the project Szuper Gallery, which she co-founded with artist Pawlo Kerestey, producing works in video, installation, performance, drawing, painting, and text that address social and political themes such as feminism, collective practices, and contemporary crises. Clausen studied at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich from 1988 to 1994 and earned an MA in Fine Art Media from the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London between 1997 and 1999. In her academic career, she has held leadership roles including Head of the Reading School of Art, School Director of Internationalisation, and co-director of the Research Platform in Curating, while establishing global partnerships for art and design initiatives focused on climate advocacy and decolonization. Notable works under Szuper Gallery include the performance Ballet-Granite (2011), the video Ballet (2009), and Liquid Trust (2015), which have been exhibited internationally at venues such as the ICA London, Ludwig Museum Budapest, and Kunsthalle Vienna. As a curator, Clausen has organized projects like The Critic as Artist (2017) and De-Colonizing Art Institutions (2017), alongside editing publications such as Ballet by Szuper Gallery (2014) and The Six Enemies of Greatness (2016). Her contributions extend to education and policy, serving as an external examiner for institutions like Central Saint Martins and as a member of evaluation committees for higher education accreditation in Cyprus since 2021. Through these multifaceted roles, Clausen bridges artistic production, curatorial innovation, and pedagogical impact, fostering dialogues on urgent global issues.
Exhibitions
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