31 May 2022

Johanna M. Keller to be the new Programme Officer of the Akademie der Künste

On 1 October 2022, Johanna Malena Keller will become the new Programme Officer at the Akademie der Künste and, as such, be responsible from now on for developing the programmatic content of the international community of artists. This also extends to interdepartmental projects and those originating from the Akademie der Künste’s archives.

What makes the Akademie der Künste special is the active participation and engagement of its approximately 400 members, who are organised in six artistic sections. In close cooperation with Akademie President Jeanine Meerapfel, Keller will be responsible for the conception and coordination of the institution’s programmatic focuses, which range from historical heritage and cultural education to intervention in society. As Programme Officer, she is a member of the management of the Akademie der Künste.

Johanna M. Keller has worked for the Goethe-Institut in Syria, Lithuania and Egypt; since the beginning of 2019, she has been active at the head office in Munich, where she has built up the staff unit ‘Cooperation and Third-Party Commissions’. As head of the Goethe-Institut in Lithuania (2010-2015) and as head of cultural work for the Arab region based in Cairo (2015-2018), she initiated and was responsible for numerous interdisciplinary programmes. Johanna M. Keller brings a broad international network with her to Berlin. She studied International Relations in Dresden, Florence, Berlin and Damascus and speaks several languages fluently, including Arabic and Lithuanian. Keller succeeds the art historian, writer and curator Johannes Odenthal as Programme Officer, who was the first to hold this office in 2006 under the presidency of Klaus Staeck and developed it into an irreplaceable force in shaping the Akademie. This is exemplified by such programmes as ‘Vertigo of Reality’, ‘Art and Revolt‘, ‘Colonial Repercussions’ and ‘Arbeit am Gedächtnis – Transforming Archives’.

“Johanna M. Keller’s international expertise is of central importance for the Akademie der Künste’s programming direction. In her we have gained the services of a personality who will continue to internationalise the Akademie der Künste and develop programmes enabling us to set artistic standards and enrich discourses in Germany and the world. This approach has been initiated and elaborated by her predecessor Johannes Odenthal over the past 16 years, for which I thank him very much,” writes Jeanine Meerapfel, President of the Akademie der Künste.