Sebastian Mühl, Dr. phil. des., is an art theorist, researcher and artist based in Berlin and Klagenfurt. He is interested in the political dimensions of contemporary practices and the politico-aesthetic implications of artistic perceptions of modernity. In 2018, he completed a phd thesis on the revival of utopian thought in contemporary art. His monograph Utopien der Gegenwartskunst. Geschichte und Kritik des utopischen Denkens in der Kunst nach 1989 is forthcoming with Transcript in Fall/ Winter 2019. The book is an art theoretical critique of utopian thinking in modernological, participatory and art activist practices since the early 1990’s. Mühls films and film-based visual art projects focus on the effects of the politico-aesthetic utopias of modernity.
Mühls research interests include contemporary Critical Theory, Popular Culture, Political Theory and Aesthetics, but also Film Theory, Aesthetic Epistemologies, and the interplay of Art & Science and Art & Design.
From 2013 to 2017, Sebastian Mühl was Research Assistant to Prof. Dr. Juliane Rebentisch at Offenbach University of Art and Design. He completed a Meisterschüler programme at Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts. Mühl studied Fine Arts and Media Arts at HGB Leipzig and received a B.A. in Philosophy at HfPh München. His work was exhibited internationally and screened at International Film Festivals, e.g. Berlinale. Mühl gave lectures, papers and seminars at various academic and cultural institutions, e.g. HfG Offenbach, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, Academy of Visual Arts Prague, University of Illinois at Chicago, Nasher Sculpture Center Dallas, Yale University and Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt.
In 2018/19, Sebastian Mühl holds a position as Senior Scientist at the Institute for Cultural Analysis, Division of Visual Culture, at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt. He is preparing a postdoc research project on post-cinema and the narration of crises in contemporary art.
