Sebastian Mühl, Dr. phil., is an art theorist and researcher based in Berlin. He is interested in the political dimensions of contemporary art and the politico-aesthetic heritage 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 was published with Transcript in 2020. 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 Art History, Critical Theory, Political Theory and Aesthetics, but also Artistic Research, 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.
From 2018 to 2019, Sebastian Mühl had a position as Senior Scientist at the Institute for Cultural Analysis, Division of Visual Culture, at Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt. He was Lecturer at the Department of Art and Design at Hochschule für Künste Bremen.
Sebastian currently works as a Digital Curator at the Dresden State Art Collections.
