Çağla Ilk and Misal Adnan Yıldız are the new directors of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden

The new directors will present an artistically and at the same time politically relevant programme at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. They aim to develop innovative and transformative approaches for the exhibitions and focus on presenting diversity.

Çağla Ilk works in theory and practice at the interface of architecture, fine arts and performance. She was born in Istanbul/Turkey, studied architecture at the Technical University Berlin and at the Mimar Sinan University Istanbul and until recently worked as a dramaturge and curator at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. During this time she was responsible for interdisciplinary projects and festivals that combined performative and visual arts, often in a transcultural context.
Çağla Ilk has curated numerous exhibitions, most recently “This might be a place for humming birds” in the Berlin Galerie im Körnerpark.
As a researcher she worked on the research project “Baukultur in der multiethnischen Stadt” at the University of Siegen. In the field of cultural politics, she was a member of the presidium of the New Society for Visual Arts (nGbK), a member of the Berlin Council for the Arts, and served on numerous juries for cultural sponsoring.

Misal Adnan Yıldız (40) studied psychology and education at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul and later completed his master’s degree in visual arts and image theory at Sabancı University. From 2006 to 2008, he completed the Curatorial Studies Programme Curatorlab/Konstfack, was a fellow of the Swedish Institute and worked with the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s International Programme for Visual and Applied Artists. In 2010, Misal Adnan Yıldız worked as a research curator for the Independent Study Programme at the Valand Academy of Arts in Gothenburg/Sweden. He is currently a member of the board of the New Centre for Research & Practice and teaches curatorial methods there. Yıldız is the former director of Artspace Aotearoa in Auckland/New Zealand (November 2014 – June 2017) and was previously artistic director at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart (2011-2014). His exhibition projects such as “Time Challenger” for HISK, Ghent, “There is no audience” for Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz, “Correct me if I’m critical” as a multi-venue project in Berlin for the Swedish Embassy, “A History of Inspiration” for the Palais de Tokyo in Paris as part of “Nouvelles vagues” (New Waves) and the multi-location project “Mutterzunge” in Berlin were awarded in the context of calls for proposals.

The selection was made by a five-member selection committee chaired by State Secretary Petra Olschowski. Other members were Ministerialrätin Jutta Ulmer-Straub, Ministry of Science, Research and Art, Dr. Nina Zimmer, Director of the Kunstmuseum Bern and the Zentrum Paul Klee, Dr. Sven Beckstette, Curator at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart Berlin, and Agnese Zanin for the political representation of disabled persons.

Ilk and Yıldız succeed Johan Holten, who took over the direction of the Kunsthalle Mannheim last September.

A warm welcome to our new directors from the team of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden!