Mechtild Widrich
former postdoc
Curriculum vitae
Follow me on Academia.edu
Faculty Page at SAIC
• Assistant Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and (until August 2015) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Eikones Research Institute, University of Basel (Module: Cities on the Move; in affiliation with ETH Zurich)
• 2011-13 Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer at the Department for the History and Theory of Architecture at ETH Zurich
• 2009 PhD, Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Dissertation: Performative Monuments. Public Art, Commemoration, and History in Postwar Europe
• 1995 Mag. Phil. Art History Institute, University of Vienna, Austria,. Passed with highest distinctions. Thesis: Nancy Spero. Art Against Armchairs
• 2013 Swiss National Science Foundation, Publication Grant "Performative Monuments"
•2013 Freie Akademische Gesellschaft Basel, financial support for field research (Washington DC., Singapore)
• 2010, 2011 Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft. Conference Travel Grant, 2010, 2011
• 2009/10 Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship, Dept. of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• 2009/10 Charlotte W. Newcombe Pre-doctoral Fellowship in Ethics and Religion, Woodrow Wilson Foundation (declined)
• 2008 C.C. Royal Fund, Dissertation Fellowship, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2007 Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Pre-doctoral Residential Fellowship
• 2007 W. Danforth Compton Memorial Fellowship, Graduate Fellowship, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2006, 07 Avalon Research Travel Grant, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2006 Student Life Grant in support of the Spaces of the Cold War Film Series, MIT Graduate Students Office
• 2005 Hyzen Research Travel Grant, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2004 Schlossman Research Award 2004, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2003/04 Fulbright Scholarship 2003–2004, Austrian-American Educational Commission
• 2003/04 MIT Presidential Graduate Fellowship for outstanding incoming graduate students
• 2003 Emanuel and Sofie Fohn Scholarship for dissertation research, Fohn Foundation Austria
• 2010 Co-curator “there is nothing to see here,” Modern Lab, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (with Arpi Kovacs und Akili Tommasino)
• 2007 Co-Curator, Sounding the Subject. Selections from the Pamela and Richard Kramlich Collection and the New Art Trust, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA (with Daniel Birnbaum)
• 2005 Co-organizer, "Spaces of the Cold War" film series (MIT-Harvard University, with Olga Touloumi and Andrei Pop)
• 1999—2003 Project Developer and Manager, Vektor: European Contemporary Art Archives, an European Union Research Project (www.vektor.at)
• 1997-2003 Director of Widrich Prints (collaborations e.g. with Nancy Spero, Eduardo Paolozzi, Zoran Music)
• 1996 “Wunschmaschine–Welterfindung”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna. Researcher and editor of exhibition catalogue, organization symposium.
• 1996 Co-Curator Jewish Museum Vienna of permanent installation Erinnerung / Remembrance by Nancy Spero
•1993, 1993/94 Internship at the Dia Center for the Arts, New York. Curatorial assistant for “Micromegas,” American Center, Paris.
• 2014 Summer School, NFS Bildkritik, Universität Basel, Seminar „Media of the Urban. In/Visible Cities“ (together with Sabine von Fischer), August 2014
• 2014 Excursion, „Art in Vienna: Art in ist Institutional Context, Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2014 Seminar, „Transparency and Reflection in Contemporary Art and Architecture,“ Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2012/13 Seminar "In-Between. Dialogues in Art and Architecture", Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich
• 2012 Seminar “The Total Work of Art”. Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich (together with Linda Schädler)
• 2011 Seminar “Transparency”. Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich (together with Martino Stierli)
• 2011 Seminar “Monument and Monumentality”. Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich (together with Martino Stierli)
• 2011 Methods seminar, “The Beautiful–The Ugly. Theory and Practice”. Art History Institute, University of Vienna (together with Andrei Pop)
• 2010/11 Proseminar, “Monument—Memorial—Countermonument”. Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2010/11 Lecture course, “Gender and Revolution”. Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
• 2008/09 Proseminar, “Performance Art”. Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2008/09 Methods seminar, “Aesthetic Dispute 1810-2005". Department of Media Studies, Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria (together with Andrei Pop)
• 2005/07 Teaching Assistant, Department of Architecture, MIT. “Art after 1940” (Prof. Caroline Jones); “Modern Art and Mass Culture” (Prof. Erika Naginski); “Art after 1945,” and graduate seminar “Conceptual Art” (Guest Prof. Martha Buskirk); “Renaissance Architecture” (Prof. David Friedman)
Faculty Page at SAIC
Current Position
• Assistant Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and (until August 2015) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Eikones Research Institute, University of Basel (Module: Cities on the Move; in affiliation with ETH Zurich)
• 2011-13 Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer at the Department for the History and Theory of Architecture at ETH Zurich
Education
• 2009 PhD, Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Dissertation: Performative Monuments. Public Art, Commemoration, and History in Postwar Europe
• 1995 Mag. Phil. Art History Institute, University of Vienna, Austria,. Passed with highest distinctions. Thesis: Nancy Spero. Art Against Armchairs
Grants/Fellowships/Awards
• 2013 Swiss National Science Foundation, Publication Grant "Performative Monuments"
•2013 Freie Akademische Gesellschaft Basel, financial support for field research (Washington DC., Singapore)
• 2010, 2011 Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft. Conference Travel Grant, 2010, 2011
• 2009/10 Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellowship, Dept. of Modern and Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
• 2009/10 Charlotte W. Newcombe Pre-doctoral Fellowship in Ethics and Religion, Woodrow Wilson Foundation (declined)
• 2008 C.C. Royal Fund, Dissertation Fellowship, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2007 Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Pre-doctoral Residential Fellowship
• 2007 W. Danforth Compton Memorial Fellowship, Graduate Fellowship, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2006, 07 Avalon Research Travel Grant, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2006 Student Life Grant in support of the Spaces of the Cold War Film Series, MIT Graduate Students Office
• 2005 Hyzen Research Travel Grant, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2004 Schlossman Research Award 2004, MIT Department of Architecture
• 2003/04 Fulbright Scholarship 2003–2004, Austrian-American Educational Commission
• 2003/04 MIT Presidential Graduate Fellowship for outstanding incoming graduate students
• 2003 Emanuel and Sofie Fohn Scholarship for dissertation research, Fohn Foundation Austria
Exhibitions, projects
• 2010 Co-curator “there is nothing to see here,” Modern Lab, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (with Arpi Kovacs und Akili Tommasino)
• 2007 Co-Curator, Sounding the Subject. Selections from the Pamela and Richard Kramlich Collection and the New Art Trust, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA (with Daniel Birnbaum)
• 2005 Co-organizer, "Spaces of the Cold War" film series (MIT-Harvard University, with Olga Touloumi and Andrei Pop)
• 1999—2003 Project Developer and Manager, Vektor: European Contemporary Art Archives, an European Union Research Project (www.vektor.at)
• 1997-2003 Director of Widrich Prints (collaborations e.g. with Nancy Spero, Eduardo Paolozzi, Zoran Music)
• 1996 “Wunschmaschine–Welterfindung”, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna. Researcher and editor of exhibition catalogue, organization symposium.
• 1996 Co-Curator Jewish Museum Vienna of permanent installation Erinnerung / Remembrance by Nancy Spero
•1993, 1993/94 Internship at the Dia Center for the Arts, New York. Curatorial assistant for “Micromegas,” American Center, Paris.
Teaching
• 2014 Summer School, NFS Bildkritik, Universität Basel, Seminar „Media of the Urban. In/Visible Cities“ (together with Sabine von Fischer), August 2014
• 2014 Excursion, „Art in Vienna: Art in ist Institutional Context, Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2014 Seminar, „Transparency and Reflection in Contemporary Art and Architecture,“ Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2012/13 Seminar "In-Between. Dialogues in Art and Architecture", Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich
• 2012 Seminar “The Total Work of Art”. Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich (together with Linda Schädler)
• 2011 Seminar “Transparency”. Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich (together with Martino Stierli)
• 2011 Seminar “Monument and Monumentality”. Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich (together with Martino Stierli)
• 2011 Methods seminar, “The Beautiful–The Ugly. Theory and Practice”. Art History Institute, University of Vienna (together with Andrei Pop)
• 2010/11 Proseminar, “Monument—Memorial—Countermonument”. Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2010/11 Lecture course, “Gender and Revolution”. Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
• 2008/09 Proseminar, “Performance Art”. Art History Institute, University of Vienna
• 2008/09 Methods seminar, “Aesthetic Dispute 1810-2005". Department of Media Studies, Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria (together with Andrei Pop)
• 2005/07 Teaching Assistant, Department of Architecture, MIT. “Art after 1940” (Prof. Caroline Jones); “Modern Art and Mass Culture” (Prof. Erika Naginski); “Art after 1945,” and graduate seminar “Conceptual Art” (Guest Prof. Martha Buskirk); “Renaissance Architecture” (Prof. David Friedman)
