New professor for Art and Image | Figuration from 1.10.: Ulrike Müller

In her expanded concept of painting, Ulrike Müller mobilizes vocabularies of color and form that are politically and emotionally charged and invite figurative readings. Her work explores open pictorial constructs and a search for bodies and figures that defy normative notions and fixed classifications. In addition to paintings in vitreous enamel on steel, Müller also produces murals, prints, textiles, and publications.

From 2008 to 2021, Ulrike Müller taught at art schools and universities in the USA, including the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (New York), Yale University (Connecticut), and most recently at Bard MFA – Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts (New York), where she co-chaired the painting department. Her pedagogical approach aims to impart a solid foundation in critical painting discourses and to empower students within the framework of their individual interests.

Ulrike Müller studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York. She was co-editor of the queer-feminist journal LTTR and organized the drawing project “Herstory Inventory: 100 Feminist Drawings by 100 Artists”. Her interest in archives and collections led to curatorial projects such as “The Animal Within You: Creatures In (and Outside) the mumok Collection”, an exploration of the presence and role of animals in museums (Vienna, 2022–23).

Müller's work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna (2015), the Whitney Biennial (New York, 2017), the 57th Carnegie International Art Exhibition (Pittsburgh, 2018), the international exhibition of the 58th Venice Biennale (2019), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2023), and the Ludwigforum Aachen (2023–24). It is represented in numerous collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.