Welcome! My name is Sabine Linn (she/her). As a cultural practitioner I work at the intersection of contemporary art, research, and global cultural discourse. I understand curatorial practice as a space of engagement and intervention, with a focus on modern and contemporary art in transnational contexts.
My work is shaped by perspectives on decoloniality, diversity, and inclusion, and is oriented toward forms of postcolonial transformation that extend beyond academic debates into practice. I develop formats that activate processes shifting from representation into lived, embodied, and collective experiences.
My practice is shaped by sustained engagement with artistic processes, cultural exchange, and critical inquiry. I bring a global perspective informed by long-term professional experience across the United States, Europe, and Africa.
I develop curatorial and research-based projects that engage with questions of memory, identity, and structural imbalance. I am particularly interested in how art can function as a site for healing and rebalancing, creating conditions in which social, historical, and cultural tensions can be negotiated and transformed.
My work focuses on building relationships between artistic practices, cultural contexts, audiences, and on fostering forms of exchange that support reflection, dialogue, new ways of thinking, and collective processes.
I connect artistic practice with broader cultural and socio-political contexts, linking local realities with global perspectives. My work combines conceptual development with strong organizational and production expertise, ensuring the realization of complex transnational projects from initial idea to implementation.
I understand curating as a dynamic and collaborative process that builds relationships between artworks, people, and contexts, and contributes to social and cultural change. Care is a central curatorial method in my practice. This enables shifts in perception and opens space for reflection, connection, and reconfiguration.
I like to work through experimenting with spaces, formats, and collaborators, allowing each project to evolve in response to its specific context and conditions.
I have contributed to exhibitions, research initiatives, and cultural projects in international contexts, especially at Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth, as well as in Stuttgart, London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and across the African continent, particularly in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Namibia.
My work spans curating, project management, and the realization of exhibitions, performances, concerts, and educational formats in collaboration with artists, scholars, institutions, and interdisciplinary partners.
Curating, organizing and realizing exhibitions
I work across institutional and independent settings, with a focus on modern andcontemporary African art in a global context.
I hold a Master of Arts in interdisciplinary African Studies, with a focus on Curatorial and Art Studies, and Social and Cultural Anthropology, from the University of Bayreuth.
My curatorial practice was further developed through the realization of exhibitions and project-based work at Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth, with a focus on modern and contemporary African art in a global context.
I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and Imaging from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, USA.
Currently, I seek new engagements in the field of contemporary art and culture, including curating and project management, as well as organizing and realizing art and cultural projects, events, and educational activities at museums, galleries and other cultural institutions. I am open to professional opportunities in Germany and internationally.
Exhibition | irgendwo (somewhere)
After the summer break my photo series 'irgendwo' (somewhere) will be opening on Monday September 2, 2024 starting at 8 PM at NEUNEINHALB in Bayreuth. On view during the month of September 2024. Free Admission.
Curator Anja Zeilinger says: "She allows us to see the seemingly familiar in a new way." In conversation with the curator I'll provide insights into my work. Everyone is warmly invited.
There will also be selected music. If the weather is nice, the outdoor lounge will be set up in the front court. Everyone can meet comfortably over a cold drink, dance, and celebrate the reunion after the summer break. I look forward to seeing you.
Exhibition | Every Seed is a Longing
In cooperation with Büro Himmelgrün and former colleagues from Iwalewahaus of the University of Bayreuth we will be showing the group exhibition 'Every Seed is a Longing' which is on view at the Ausstellungshalle at the Neuen Rathaus Bayreuth from May 8 - 28, 2024.
The non-profit association Gärten der Begegnung – Interkulturelle Gärten Bayreuth e.V. is our main project partner. The local associations Die Summer e.V., Flora Nordostbayern e.V. and the diversity garden-nursery Radies und Das also contributed images and information about their plant projects. I have been instrumental in curating the exhibition, writing the concept, planing and organizing the exhibition management from February to June 2024.
The exhibition 'Every Seed is a Longing' aims to explore and foster the significance of plants along the interdisciplinary scope of Plant or Environmental Humanities. It serves as a platform to investigate the diverse ways in which people of our local communities and beyond engage with plants in the form of practice, thought, imagination and representation. Through art, collaboration and dialogue the exhibition showcases - and further seeks to inspire and empower individuals to re-imagine their relationship with nature and take meaningful action towards environmental stewardship.
The group exhibition features selected works from the following contemporary artists and activists: Emeka Alams, Yassine Balbzioui, Michael Bayer, Paúl Bedón, Christiane Fichtner, Goldendean, Stephan Klenner-Otto, Sabine Linn, Markus, Christian Proaño, Bernd Romankiewitz, Robinga Schnögelrögel, Marie Schönheiter, Horst Siegel, Terreiros, and Franziska Wagner.
