Vera Bornkessel
Vera Bornkessel, M.A.
Vita 
Vera Bornkessel worked as a research assistant for our research funding programmes from September 2021 to August 2023. She studied art history and cultural studies at the University of Leipzig and the Università degli Studi Bologna.
She completed internships at the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
As a research assistant she worked at the Institute of Art History at the University of Leipzig with Prof. Dr. Martin Schieder and as a student assistant with Prof. Dr. Arnold Bartetzky at the Leibnitz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe in Leipzig.
From 2019 to 2021, she completed an academic traineeship at the Max Ernst Museum Brühl, where she worked as curatorial assistant for the exhibition Hartmut Neumann - Forbidden Zones ǀ Wolf Hamm – Great Processes (16.5.-29.8.2021) and as co-curator of the exhibition Max Beckmann – Day and Dream. A Journey from Berlin to New York (27.9.2020-11.4.2021).
Most recently, she was involved in the preparations for the exhibition Surrealistic Creatures.
Email address: vera.bornkessel.2@uni-leipzig.de
Scholarship
- since January 2024: Participation in the doctoral programme "Cultural Transfers - Contributions to a Transnational and Transregional History of Modernity and the Present", University of Leipzig - ENS-PSL Paris, funded by the Franco-German University, Saarbrücken
- September 2012– March 2019: Scholar of the Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst e.V.
Research focus
- Surrealism
- Animal Representations in Surrealism
- Art in Exile (First half of the 20th century)
- Cultural transfer
- Modern Art
Memberships
International Council of Museums (ICOM)
International Society for the Study of Surrealism (ISSS)
Essays
- 29 individual contributions on works by Max Ernst. In: Frey, Madeleine; Blümel, Patrick; (ed.) Surreal Futures, Cologne 2023, [Exhibition 27 August 2023 to 28 January 2024, Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR].
- Leipzig wäre im Jahr 2000 eine Ruinenstadt gewesen. Johannes Schulze im Gespräch mit Vera Bornkessel und Greta Paulsen, In: Bartetzky, Arnold; Karpf, Nicolas; Paulsen, Greta (Hg.), Architektur und Städtebau in der DDR. Stimmen und Erinnerungen aus vier Jahrzehnten, Berlin 2022, p. 90–112.
- https://dom-publishers.com/products/architektur-und-stadtebau-in-der-ddr
- Das Bestiarium im Kosmos des Comte de Lautréamont. In: Sommer, Achim (Hg.): Surreale Tierwesen, Köln 2021, p. 28–41 [Exhibition 3 October 2021 to 6 February 2022, Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR].
- “Der Horizont ist voll Reisen”. Beckmann unterwegs. In: Sommer, Achim (Hg.): Max Beckmann. Day and Dream. Eine Reise von Berlin nach New York, Köln 2020, p. 60–73. [Exhibition 28 September 2020 to 11 April 2021, Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR].
- Der Leipziger Johannapark. Vom Landschaftsgarten für alle und der ersten bürgerlichen Freiraumsicherung. In: Horsch, Nadja; Tübbecke, Simone (Hg.): Bürger Gärten Promenaden. Leipziger Gartenkultur im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Leipzig 2018, p. 295–303.
- Cranach in Weimar, Holler, Wolfgang; Kolb, Karin (Hg.), Dresden 2015 (some catalogue contributions). [Exhibition 3 April to 14 June 2015, Schiller Museum Weimar].
Exhibitions
- Surrealistic Creatures, Exhibition 3 October 2021 to 6 February 2022, Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR (collaboration)
- Hartmut Neumann - Forbidden Zones ǀ Wolf Hamm - Great Processes, Exhibition 16 May to 29 August 2021,
Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR (curatorial assistance) - Max Beckmann. Day and Dream. A Journey from Berlin to New York, Exhibition 28 September 2020 to 11 April 2021,
Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR (co-curator) - Cranach in Weimar, Exhibition 3 April to 14 June 2015,
Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Schiller Museum Weimar (intern)
Organized conferences
- Internationales Forschungskolloquium Frankreich–Deutschland, organized by Julia Drost, DFK Paris, Henry Keazor, Universität Heidelberg, Dominik Eckel, Universität Heidelberg and Vera Bornkessel, DFK Paris / Universität Leipzig, with support of the Franco-German University, Saarbrücken, October 04-05 2023, Universität Heidelberg and February 12-13 2024, DFK Paris
- Forschungsfeld Surrealismus im deutschsprachigen Raum, organized by Julia Drost, DFK Paris, Sigrid Ruby, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Jennifer Jäger, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and Vera Bornkessel, DFK Paris / Universität Leipzig, September 28-29 2023, DFK Paris
Presentations
- "Reconstruire l'arche. Tiere im konzeptuellen und intermedialen Schaffen und Denken des Surrealismus (1924-1969)", Conference within the Franco-German Colloquium in Art History, under the direction of Julia Drost, DFK Paris, Henry Keazor, University of Heidelberg, Dominik Eckel, University of Heidelberg and Vera Bornkessel, DFK Paris / University of Leipzig, with the support of the Franco-German University, February 12 2024, DFK Paris
- “Anthropozentrische Auflösung. Tiere im surrealistischen Schaffen und Denken 1924–1969”, Conference within the intern Workshops »Forschungsfeld Surrealismus im deutschsprachigen Raum«, organized by Julia Drost, DFK Paris, Sigrid Ruby, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Jennifer Jäger, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and Vera Bornkessel, DFK Paris / Universität Leipzig, September 28 2023, DFK Paris
- “Le tamanoir d’André Breton. Les représentations animales dans le surréalisme 1924-1969”, Online Conference ISSS SURREALISMS 2022, Tous les éléments: Todos los elementos: A Periodic Table, November 20 2022
- “La place de l'animal dans le surréalisme”, Participation in the Concours Ma thèse en histoire de l’art et en archéologie en 180 secondes, within the framework of the Festival de l'histoire de l'art, Château de Fontainebleau, organised by the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), June 4 2022
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