Alexander Henschel is an art educator and art mediator in theory and practice. He studied educational science, art, art education and philosophy in Halle (Saale) and Mannheim and completed his doctorate as part of the Art Education doctoral programme. He has worked as a research assistant and lecturer at the Universities of Bremen and Hildesheim, as a visiting professor at the HFBK in Hamburg and currently as a lecturer and post-doc in the Art Education and Art Mediation department at the Institute of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Oldenburg. His research and teaching focus on the inconclusive complexity of the relationships between art, pedagogy and society.
He is currently researching the continuities of ethnic discourses in art education in the early Federal Republic of Germany and the (re)construction of ability norms in historical school curricula.
Academic CV
2025: 1st place on the list and appointment to the professorship for art didactics and art education (W2) at Leuphana University Lüneburg (appointment rejected)
since 2022: Research assistant (post-doc) at the Department of Art Education and Art Mediation, Institute of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Oldenburg
2020: 3rd place on the list for the professorship for art education (W3) at the HFBK Hamburg
2018-2019: Visiting professor for art education at the HFBK Hamburg
2018-2020: University lecturer at the Institute for Art Studies-Film Studies-Art Education at the University of Bremen
2018: PhD on the topic "What does mediation mean here? Conceptual investigations and logical considerations on an art mediation of difference" (University of Oldenburg)
since 2014: Teaching staff for special tasks at the Institute of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Oldenburg (permanent)
2010-2016: Research assistant at the Institute of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Oldenburg
2010-2018: doctoral candidate in the Art Education doctoral programme
2008-2010: Research assistant at the Institute for Cultural Policy at the University of Hildesheim
2001-2006: Studied art education at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, Halle
1999-2001: Studied fine arts at the Rhein-Neckar School of Fine Arts, Mannheim
1996-1999: Studied Philosophy and Education, University of Mannheim
Research focus
(Dis)continuities of ethnic discourses in art education in the early FRG (habilitation project)
Historical curriculum research in the school subject art
Complex logics in the (art) pedagogical field
Conceptual, socio-historical and institutional conditions of art, art education and art pedagogy
Publications
MONOGRAPHIES
What does mediation mean here? Art mediation and its controversial concept. Vienna: Zaglossus 2020 >Download (full text)
Art educational complexity - Logics and concepts of self-description (ed. by Andrea Sabisch, Torsten Meyer, Heinrich Lüber, Eva Sturm), Kunstpädagogische Positionen 48. Hamburg 2019. >to the website
EDITORSHIPS
Maset, Pierangelo: Kunstvermittlung heute: Zwischen Anpassung und Widerständigkeit (ed. by Alexander Henschel, Eva Sturm, Manuel Zahn), Kunstpädagogische Positionen 27, Oldenburg 2012 >to the website
Hartwig, Helmut: Visual Communication in the Force Field of the Zeitgeist (ed. by Alexander Henschel, Eva Sturm, Manuel Zahn), Kunstpädagogische Positionen 26, Oldenburg 2012 >to the website
Heil, Christine: Observe, shift, provoke. Field approaches in ethnography, art and school (ed. by Alexander Henschel, Eva Sturm, Manuel Zahn), Kunstpädagogische Positionen 25, Oldenburg 2012>to the website
Pazzini, Karl-Josef: Sehnsucht der Berührung und Aggressivität des Blicks, (ed. by Alexander Henschel, Eva Sturm, Manuel Zahn), Kunstpädagogische Positionen 24, Oldenburg 2012 >to the website
Balkenhol, Bernhard: In art, around art and about art, (ed. by Alexander Henschel, Eva Sturm, Manuel Zahn), Kunstpädagogische Positionen 23, Oldenburg 2012 >to the website
Aden, Maike/Peters, Maria: 'Standart'. Möglichkeiten, Grenzen und die produktive Erweiterung kompetenzorientierter Standards in performative processes of art education, (ed. by Alexander Henschel, Eva Sturm, Manuel Zahn), Kunstpädagogische Positionen 22, Oldenburg 2011 >to the website
ESSAYS/ARTICLES/REVIEWS
"'Good luck 1939' - on the reception of the Britsch/Kornmann theory in völkisch and National Socialist discourses of German art education. A reconstruction". In: Lüth, Nanna (ed.): Again and again! Teaching Nazi history in schools, universities and the arts. Munich kopaed 2025, pp. 326-363 >to the website
"Biopolitical functions of musical art education in German special schools. A journal study (1928-1961)". In: Kaiser, Michaela/Brenne, Andreas/Ahokas, Nina (eds.): All inclusive? Art education in the mirror of inclusion. Munich: kopaed 2024, p. 41-72. >to the website
"Queer(end)e Logics in Art Education - Opportunities and Risks of an Approach". In: Klaassen, Oliver/Seier, Andrea (ed.): QUEERULIEREN. Disruptive moments in art, media and science. Berlin: Neofelis 2023. p. 101-114. >to the announcement
"Hate and desire. Figures of the Third and their Disposition in Art Education Fields". In: Bader, Nadia/Johns, Stefanie/Krauss, Lennart (eds.): How to Arts Education Research? Knowledge Practices between Art and Education. Munich: kopaed 2023, pp. 61-70.
Review of: Tewes, Johanna: "Fort von den Konstruktionen, hin zu den Sachen". Strategies of power in the history of art education 1945-1980. Munich 2018. In: H-Soz-Kult, 08.06.2021, <www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/reb-50620>.
"Kunstpädagogische Komplexität und ihre Inszenierung im Lehramtsstudium zwischen Kunsthochschule und Universität", in: Lerchenfeld, No. 46 (2018), pp. 11-13, >to the journal
"The bridge as a crack. Reproductive and transformative moments of art education", in: Birgit Mandel (ed.): Teilhabeorientierte Kulturvermittlung. Diskurse und Konzepte für eine Neuausrichtung des öffentlich geförderten Kulturlebens, Bielefeld: transcript 2016, pp. 141-154, >to the text version of the conference documentation from 2014 (there pp. 91-100)
"The new lies in the old. Historical Perspectives on an Art Education Concept of Difference", in: Meyer, Thorsten/Kolb, Gila (eds.): what's next? Art Education. Ein Reader, Munich: kopaed 2015, pp. 125-127 >to the website
"Mediation, reflection, change. Als ob - Zur wechselseitigen Verkleidung dreier Begriffe", in: Forum K&B GmbH (ed.): REFLEXION - Zwischen Theorie und Praxis. Model programme "Cultural agents for creative schools" 2011-2015, Berlin: o.V. 2015, pp. 179-186 >to the website
"Kunstpädagogik der nächsten Gesellschaft" [Review of Meyer, Thorsten: Nex Art Education], in: BDK-Mitteilungen, Hft. 3 (2014), S. 45.
"The 'we' is the safe side. Logical collapses and their political cement", in: ifa et. al (eds.): Kunstvermittlung in der Migrationsgesellschaft, berlin/stuttgart: ifa 2012, pp. 66-74.
"Der Begriff der Vermittlung im Rahmen von Kunst", in: Prinz-Kiesbüye, Myrna-Alice/Schmidt, Yvonne/Strickler, Pia (eds.): Theater und Öffentlichkeit. Theatre mediation as a problem, Zurich 2012, pp. 17-27 >to the publisher's page
"the term 'mediation' in the context of art. An attempt at translation", in: Život umjetnosti, vol. 88 (2011), S. 22-33
"Who does 'all' mean? On the possibility of total inclusion in the context of cultural processes", in: Schneider, Wolfgang (ed.): Kulturelle Bildung braucht Kulturpolitik. Hilmar Hoffmann's "Culture for all" reloaded. Hildesheim 2010, pp. 185-192
"Going for a walk. Cultural mediation between aesthetic and political practice", in: Kultur.Politik.Diskurs, Hft. 10 (2009), S. 21-23
"Art.space.politics. Cultural mediation in Japan and Germany", in: Kultur.Politik.Diskurs, Hft. 10 (2009), S. 9-14
"Der - unmögliche - Wunsch nach unmittelbarer Vermittlung", in: Mörsch, Carmen and documenta 12 mediation research team (eds.): Kunst Vermittlung 2. zwischen kritischer Praxis und Dienstleistung auf der documenta 12. Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojekts, Zurich/Berlin: diaphanes 2009, pp. 159-168
"Palm groves. Kunstvermittlung als Konstitution von Öffentlichkeit", in: Mörsch, Carmen et al. (eds.): Kunstvermittlung (2009), pp. 47-58
"Treten und Vertreten", in: Mörsch, Carmen et al. (eds.): Kunstvermittlung (2009), p. 225
Lectures and workshops (selection)
"Art education, racism and policies for the past - a brief history of a complex relationship as exemplified by documenta 1", online lecture University of Osaka, (27.6.2025). >Announcement
"Kunst und Können - eine (kurz) Geschichte der Kunsterziehung in Deutschland als intersektionale Geschichte von Fähigkeitsnormen", lecture as part of the series of lectures "(Un)Doing Differences", University of Oldenburg (2024). >Announcement
"Kunstunterricht zwischen Heimatkunde und Arbeitserziehung - zur historischen Rekonstruktion sozialer Verhältnisse in schulischen Lehrplänen", lecture as part of the conference "Kunstpädagogik der Komplexität", University of Cologne (2023) >Announcement
"Kunstpädagogik an den Rändern der Sichtbarkeit", lecture as part of the conference "Auftischen & Vertuschen. Practices of making (in)visible", Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle (2021), >Announcement
"Kunstpädagogische Komplexität - zu einem Theorie- und Arbeitsfeld zwischen den Stühlen", lecture as part of the series of lectures "Kunstpädagogische Positionen", University of Cologne (2021), >Announcement
"Zwischen Pädagogik, Politik und Ökonomie - Kunstvermittlung und ihr umstrittener Begriff", lecture as part of the seminar "Kunstvermittlung. Positions - Questions - Perspectives", Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle (2021), > Announcement
"Zur Mehrfachbedeutung des Fremdheitsbegriffs im kunstpädagogischen Diskurs", lecture at the annual conference Wissenschaftliche Sozietät Kunst Medien Bildung (2021), > announcement
"Hass und Begehren - hybride kunstpädagogische Figuren und ihre Disposition in Schule und Hochschule", lecture at the conference "howtoAER - how to Arts Education Research", Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe (2020) > Ankündigung
"Zusammenarbeit in der Kunstvermittlung - begriffliche und logische Zugänge", lecture and workshop as part of the theatre education module "Gäste im Ring" at the Zurich University of the Arts (2020).
"Kunstpädagogische Komplexität", as part of the "Arbeitstagung zum Selbstverständnis der Kunstpädagogik an einer Kunstakademie" at the HFBK Hamburg (2018) > Announcement
"Über das Szenische - Vermittlungsarbeit in Schule und Theater" (together with Wiebke Trunk), as part of the series of lectures "Kunstvermittlung ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit an der Institution", University of Oldenburg (2018)
"What does mediation mean here? Konzepte und Begriffe der Kunstvermittlung zwischen Gegenwart und Geschichte", as part of the series of lectures "Kunst-Medien-Ästhetische Bildung", University of Bremen (2018)
"Staged complexity. Über das Nebeneinander in Kunstvermittlung und Kunstunterricht", as part of the series of lectures "Warum es muß sein. Current legitimisations in art education/art pedagogy", University of Oldenburg (2016)
"Aspects of mediation in philosophical aesthetics", seminar in the degree programme Transculturality, Zurich University of the Arts (2015)
"Mediation - Reflection - Change. Three moving concepts", lecture and workshop as part of the academy "Cultural Agents for Creative Schools", Meißen (2014)
"Art mediation? Art mediation! On the orientation and disorientation of a term", as part of the conference "Re-registering students. Mediation for Discussion", Kunstverein Hildesheim (2012)
"Politik der Logik - das logische Problem der Vermittlung im Spannungsfeld zwischen Migrationspädagogik und Kunstvermittlung", as part of the lecture series "Kunstvermittlung in der Migrationsgesellschaft", ifa-Gallerie Stuttgart (2011)
"Komplizin Kunst - Kunstvermittlung als kritische Praxis" (with Kea Wienand), as part of the series of lectures "Kunst in der Vermittlung", University of Oldenburg (2010)
"Forming Crises", workshop as part of the conference "Feedback", 6th Berlin Biennale (2010),
"Spazieren zwischen Stadt, Kunst und Vermittlung", workshop (together with Elke Krasny) as part of the Steirischer Herbst festival, Graz (2010)
"The concept of mediation in the art context", as part of the conference "The participatory imperative", Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb (2010)
"Mediation as aesthetic practice", as part of the lecture "Introduction to cultural policy", University of Hildesheim (2010)
"Talking about Art - What or How?", Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Bolzano (2009)
"Theory of art mediation - history and current tendencies", Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum Duisburg (2009)
"Art-Mediation at international art exhibitions using the example of documenta 12", Tokyo University and University of Kobe (2009)
"Palmenhaine auf der documenta 12", University of Kassel (2008)
"Kunstvermittlung und ihre Rollenzuschreibungen im Betriebssystem Kunst", Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle/Saale (2008)
"Mediation as a political concept", University of Hildesheim (2008)
"Die Krise als Chance - Nachwort zur documenta 12", University of Art and Design Burg Giebichenstein Halle/Saale (2007)
"Kunstvermittlung auf der documenta 12", University of Art and Design Burg Giebichenstein Halle/Saale (2007)
"Open structures. On the curatorial concept of documenta 12", University of Art and Design Burg Giebichenstein Halle/Saale (2007)
Exhibitions and performances as an artist (selection)
"Walking the border. A walking lecture on and under the new and old ramparts of Hildesheim", lecture performance as part of the festival "Hildesheimer Wallungen", Hildesheim (2009)
"Fünf Himmelsrichtungen", group exhibition and lecture performance, Atelier Wilhelmsstrasse, Stuttgart (2007)
"Couples Nr. 1", lecture performance and group exhibition, Kunstverein via113, Hildesheim (2007)
"Raumsauger", lecture performance, Raumsauger city centre festival, Hildesheim (2006)
"Rasen über Kopfsteinpflaster", group exhibition, Kunstverein Wilhelmshöhe, Ettlingen [catalogue] (2006)
"Finale", group exhibition, former Salzmannschule, Halle/Saale [catalogue] (2006)
"Nichts zu sehn, weitergehn", group exhibition, Märkisches Museum, Berlin [catalogue] (2004)
"bits", solo exhibition, University and State Library, Halle/Saale (2004)
"KunstAlsleben - unser täglich Brot", group exhibition, former grain mill, Alsleben [catalogue] (2004)
"Maschinendressur und Installation", solo exhibition, Elfmetergalerie, Halle/Saale (2003)
Memberships
Since 2022: Member of the German Society for Educational Science (DGfE), Section for Historical Educational Research
2019-2021: Member of the Commission for Teacher Training and the Council for Teaching at the University of Oldenburg
Since 2019: Member of the Wissenschaftliche Sozietät Kunst Medien Bildung e.V. (Academic Society for Art Media Education)
2018-2019: Member of the Quality Circle for Teacher Training at the HFBK Hamburg as part of the degree programme certification process
since 2017: Member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies (ZFG)
since 2013: Member of the Association of German Art Teachers (BDK)
2011-2012: Member of the institute council for art and visual culture as a representative of the mid-level faculty, University of Oldenburg
2010-2020: Deputy Chair of the Entrance Examination Committee of the Institute of Art and Visual Culture, University of Oldenburg
2009-2010: Associate member of the Herder Kolleg (Centre for Transdisciplinary Cultural Research), University of Hildesheim