Director of Kunstmuseum Basel

Canton Basel-Stadt with its Öffentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, the city’s municipal art collection, runs one of Europe’s most important art museums, Kunstmuseum Basel. Famed for its outstanding collections and exhibitions with worldwide pulling power, Kunstmuseum Basel has three venues at its disposal, allowing for an attractive and wide-ranging programme. The infrastructure of the Hauptbau, the museum’s main building, is to be modernized in the course of the next few years.

We are looking for a

Director of Kunstmuseum Basel

to take over as of 1 January 2024 or by agreement.

Your responsibilities

As director you will have overall responsibility for Kunstmuseum Basel as an institution and for its positioning in a civic, national, and international context. Together with the museum team you will oversee the strategic and organizational development of both the museum and its holdings. You will steer the management, scientific study, and presentation of the collections. You will provide a positive working climate, cultivate collaboration with other museums, coordinate with the cantonal administration, and establish enduring partnerships with the University of Basel, collectors, sponsors, and patrons.

You will regard the museum as a place for participation and encounter, and will count the inclusion of society’s various groupings and the fleshing out of the museum’s public role at both the local and regional level among your core tasks.

Our requirements

For this demanding task we are looking for an outstanding individual with an international track record of curatorial and entrepreneurial excellence in a leadership position at an art museum or comparable institution. The director is responsible for the institution’s profile and strategic development. An essential prerequisite is the expertise needed to design a programme and cultivate a collection, preferably proven by the candidate’s possession of a higher degree. The position to be filled requires not only leadership, managerial competence, and administrative discipline, but also outstanding communication skills, the ability to work in a team, a command of German, and personal charisma.

For further information, please contact Dr. Katrin Grögel, Head of the Abteilung Kultur, Präsidialdepartement Basel-Stadt, mail katrin.groegel@bs.ch / Tel. 0041 (0)61 267 40 22 or Prof. Dr. Felix Uhlmann, President of the Kunstkommission, Tel. 0041 (0)61 279 70 00.

We look forward to receiving your online application by September 28, 2022.