Frankfurt am Main 60596
Germany
The Hochschule für Bildende Künste–Städelschule is delighted to announce the appointment of Simnikiwe Buhlungu as Professor of Fine Arts. Buhlungu will join Städelschule’s faculty in the winter semester 2026/2027, with an artistic and pedagogical profile that intertwines interdisciplinary research, experimentation, and critical reflection on the production of knowledge.
Rector Prof. Dr. Barbara Clausen on the appointment: “We are thrilled to welcome Simnikiwe Buhlungu to the faculty of Städelschule. Buhlungu brings with her a remarkable combination of intellectual curiosity, generosity, and a deep thinking about pedagogies. Her artistic and educational approach aligns closely with the commitments that shape our school: collaboration, learning through exchange, rigorous engagement with theory, and the freedom to experiment.” Buhlungu will teach and mentor one of Städelschule’s eight classes, which was previously led by Professor Judith Hopf (2008–2025) and Guest Professor Diego Marcon (2025–2026).
Simnikiwe Buhlungu
Simnikiwe Buhlungu is an artist from Johannesburg, South Africa, and currently lives and works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Interested in knowledge production(s) – how it is produced, by whom and how it is disseminated – Buhlungu locates socio-historical and everyday phenomena by navigating these questions and their inexhaustible potential answers. Through research-based practice, she works through sound, text, installation, and publishing to map points of cognizance which situate various layers of awareness as reverberated ecologies.
Buhlungu is looking forward to joining Städelschule, a unique place from which to engage with students and faculty in a rethinking of art education: “In addition to being a site for experimentation and criticality, Städelschule provides room for the rigor and growth of the practices of the students and the professors – so a practice-based dialog of praxis becomes possible. This is a very unique scaffolding of an arts academy. My vision asks for the unlearning of arts educations (with welcome abrasions!) while making space within structural loopholes to build a vocabulary for cultural, intellectual and artistic practices that the students can lean on during and after their studies (and in perpetuity).”
Buhlungu has presented her work in international exhibitions and projects, among others at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam (2025); 36th Bienal de São Paulo (2025); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2024); Kunst im Tunnel (KIT), Düsseldorf (2024); Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam (2023); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (2022); Kunsthalle Bern (2022); 59th Venice Biennale (2022); Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town (2021) and the KZNSA Gallery, Durban (2019). Her work has been collected by the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; KADIST, Paris; and Frac MÉCA, Bordeaux, among others. Buhlungu was a resident at Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, from 2020 to 2022, and previously taught at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK), Den Haag. In 2025, her publication, besides Puleng; dontsa-ring and roving preoccupations, was co-published by Chisenhale Gallery, Kunstinstituut Melly, and Mousse Publishing.
Hochschule für Bildende Künste–Städelschule
The Hochschule für Bildende Künste–Städelschule is an art school in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, established in 1817. It is committed to providing space for independent, experimental studio work as well as collective critical discourse through a variety of teaching formats and public programs. Students can pursue a Fine Arts program or an MA in Curatorial Studies, in cooperation with Goethe-University Frankfurt.
Städelschule distinguishes itself through its intimate class size and international student body, as well as being an art school with an adjoint exhibition institution – the Portikus, founded in 1987 by former rector Kasper König. The Städelschule’s distinguished faculty includes artists, art historians and cultural theorists such as Monika Baer, Daniel Birnbaum, Gerard Byrne, Barbara Clausen, Isabelle Graw, Hassan Khan, Philippe Pirotte, Tobias Rehberger, Willem de Rooij, and Haegue Yang.
