Hanna Barbara Hölling
Senior Fellow 2025–2026

Hanna Barbara Hölling is a scholar specializing in art history and theory, material and heritage studies, conservation, and American and European art since the 1960s. Holding a PhD in Art History and Cultural Studies from the University of Amsterdam (NL), she has taught the history of art, technology, and conservation at the Department of History of Art at UCL, London (UK), as well as cultures of conservation at the Bard Graduate Center in New York (US). This academic work is complemented by extensive experience in the museum and heritage sector, including leadership roles.

Her research is anchored in two interconnected strands. The first focuses on the art and culture of the 1960s and 1970s, with particular attention to visual arts and performative practices in their material and cultural contexts. The second investigates conservation as a critical and epistemic practice, examining how it shapes the identities of both objects and communities. Central to her work is an exploration of the politics of materiality and how interaction with matter can produce knowledge that extends beyond traditional visual traditions. More recently, her research has engaged with the concepts of naturecultures and care ethics as frameworks for addressing contemporary ecological and cultural challenges.