Sigrid Pawelke is a curator and a performance and art historian, regarded as one of the leading experts of the Bauhaus Stage and its influences on the arts in North America. In 2015 she was part of the Black Mountain show at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum of Contemporary Art Berlin, contributing fifteen film interviews of former Black Mountain students (such as Ati Gropius, choreographer Anna Halprin and Yvonne Rainer).
Born in Germany, she currently lives in France where she taught art history at the School of Visual Arts in Aix-en-Provence from 2011 until 2016. She has worked with artists Jochen Gerz and Michelangelo Pistoletto and has organized workshops with choreographers VA Wölfl, Philippe Decouflé, Angelin Preljocaj, Rachid Ouramdane, Marcos Morau, Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor, among others.
Sigrid Pawelke has been trained in Dance and Performance. She studied Art History, theater and film studies at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and at the Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III, and was a research fellow at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University.
She received her Doctor of Art History and Performance Studies (PhD) in 2000 for her thesis entitled "Influences of the Bauhaus Stage in the USA". It investigates the connection between the Bauhaus stage, avant-garde performance and Postmodern dance in the USA, focusing particularly on aesthetic and pedagogical aspects. Pawelke examines the interdisciplinary ideas fostered by the Bauhaus, that were expressed in the programs at Black Mountain College, and that led for instance to the emergence of John Cage's first "Happening". Her work was the first study to consider the relationship between the European Bauhaus and the American experimental stage in rigorous scholarly detail.
Pawelke has taught performance art in theory and practice at Sorbonne Nouvelle III, the University of Paris VIII, the Parsons School of Design Paris, and Art History at the School of Visual Arts in Aix-en-Provence. Pawelke is active internationally, and regularly gives talks, lectures and workshops in cities such as Beirut, Berlin, Budapest, Rouen, Stockholm, Vilnius. She has been a guest speaker at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, and the Bauhaus Dessau.
Pawelke has overseen projects and produced programs for the Fondation de France, the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, Alfred Toepfer Foundation, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education Germany. Between 2006 and 2010 she initiated and developed the program "New Patrons" (Nouveaux Commanditaires) in Germany. In collaboration with six high-profile curators and major art institutions (i.e. Deichtorhallen Hamburg) she advanced the European platform "New Patrons" from France, Belgium and Italy into Germany with the aim of initiating art of-and-for civil society.
Sigrid Pawelke has come to specialize in art projects in the urban realm and the ecological sphere. She worked at PS1 Center of Contemporary Art in New York, the Fondazione Pistoletto in Biella and is especially interested in the social relevance and impact of her projects and interventions.
1996 Numerous articles and reviews about dance and film for "magazine ARTE", Paris. French German culture channel
2002 We could be anywhere, I know this place, Lettre International, September 2002, Berlin
2005 Influences of the Bauhaus stage in the USA: A study on the connection of the Bauhaus stage, American stage performance and Postmodern Dance, focusing on aesthetic and pedagogical aspects; 293 p., Roderer Verlag
2008 Art and civil society – current paradigm and new pathways, Stiftung Mitarbeit, Wegweiser Bürgergesellschaft
2014 Black Mountain College: Art, Democracy, Utopia; Alan Speller, Black Mountain College: Art education and Avant-garde, Critique d’art
2003 – Speaker: "NO FUTURE – the world and politics in the ANTHOLOGY OF ART", Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest)
2003 – Speaker: "The arts and the city: innovative approaches", École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-Malaquais
2009 – Curator: "European Conference of "New Patrons" New Patrons: A proposal for promoting art in civil society, Kunstwerke Berlin, Germany. With Bruno Latour and Chantal Mouffe amongst others; In connection with a three-day European Seminar on "New Patrons", Siggen, Germany. October 9, 2009, Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, Germany
2009 – Speaker: "Open Engagement, Commissioning and Producing Art for the Public Realm", Marabou Parken and Polska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden. Title of the talk: Creative planning, artistic brief and New Patrons. 25–28 September 2009
2010 – Co-curator and speaker: "The Power of Imagination" Conference, Bauhaus Dessau. Title of the talk: "Pedagogy and Bauhaus stage: The basis for performance at Black Mountain College"
2010 – Speaker: "The Impact of Cultural and Citizenship Education on Social Cohesion", Vilnius. Title of the talk: Culture as a Driving Force for Social and Political Participation on the basis of the art commission program New Patrons. Title of the workshop: Culture as a Driving Force for Social and Political Participation: How Could Social Realities Be Formed and Changed Through the Arts?
2011 – Speaker: "Performance at Black Mountain College – An American Bauhaus", Public Talk, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 23 November 2011
2012 – Curator and speaker: "Back and forth: From life to art – John Cage", Aix en Provence and Alphabetville Marseille, France: A theme week on Cage for students and a broader audience addressing the issue of music, scores, chance and protocols of John Cage interacting with the educational institutions as Black Mountain College
2015 – Curator and speaker: "Dance and Visual Arts towards New Explorations", Aix en Provence, France: Two-day-conference bringing together 14 interdisciplinary experts to explore the role of stage and especially dance, and how it opens into multidisciplinary artistic fields; 9–10 March 2015 at Ecole supérieure d’art Aix en Provence, France
2015 – Curator and speaker: "Migration – Strategies of Creation": Two-day-conference about the migration crisis and its impact, bringing together migrants, artist, experts and scientists to develop creative strategies to tackle the issue in artistic ways. Plus a day of workshop with Tanja Ostojić, 14–16 December 2016 at Ecole supérieure d’art Aix en Provence, France
2016 – Curator and speaker: "Art and Biosphere – Birth of a Consciousness", Aix en Provence, France: Three-day-conference bringing together more than 20 international artists, designers, architects, experts and researchers and half a dozen institutions from all over France facilitating interdisciplinary exchange, 20–22 April 2016 at Ecole supérieure d’art Aix en Provence, France
2016 – Speaker: "The score as a source of creation and the creation as a score at the Bauhaus and in the work of Anna and Lawrence Halprin", lecture and body workshop about the RSVP Cycle of Anna and Lawrence Halprin, ESADHaR, School of visual arts and design Le Havre-Rouen, France
2003 – Researcher, speaker and curator: "Urban Walk" and exhibition: Urban problematic in post war Beirut, BEIRUT STREET FESTIVAL, ZICOhouse, Lebanon
2005 – Participant: "Social Responsible Transformation" – Interdisciplinary residence, art projects, workshops and curatorship, Cittadellarte/Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy: Four-month residence together with 15 international artists and researchers: "Un gioco: la tua casa, il tuo segno, la tua scelta": installation of a playhouse with workshops on the notion of home/house, July 1 – October 31, 2015, University of Ideas, Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella, Italy
