Aue has many years of experience in leading different cultural and educational institutions. His focus lies on questions of archival culture and artistic research formats as well as building institutional structures and networks in transdisciplinary contexts. His most recent position was as Head of Artistic Research at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg, where he developed an artistic PhD program as part of a unique nationwide pilot project. Before that, he was Project Head at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin, where he was also responsible for the long-term project The Whole Life: An Archive Project (2018–2022), for which Arsenal was also a key collaborator.
Aue has Master’s Degrees in Curatorial Studies as well as Sociology, Psychology and Media Studies. He is editor of the following books: ArteFakte: Reflexionen und Praktiken wissenschaftlich-künstlerischer Begegnungen (2014, transcript), Wörterbuch der Gegenwart (2019, Matthes & Seitz), The Nomadic Curriculum (2022, Archive Books), Archive & Utopie (2022, Spector Books).
Supervisory Board Chair Adrienne Goehler expressed her pleasure at having appointed Aue to the position of Arsenal Commercial Director based on an open call and the decision made by a selection committee consisting of members of the supervisory board:
“Stefan Aue is closely linked to Arsenal through previous projects and is thus a great addition to the institution’s co-directorship. His comprehensive experience in the areas of structural development and team leadership above all will be of great advantage for the whole spectrum of Arsenal’s artistic activities, ranging from the new cinema, the film archive, the distribution wing, Berlinale Forum and Forum Expanded to the interdisciplinary educational and outreach projects being carried out at the new location of silent green.”
Aue emphasised Arsenal’s role as a true beacon in the cultural landscape of Berlin and beyond. “I’m very happy to be working for a film institution so rich in tradition that I’ve already been able to collaborate with in the past in different contexts. Opening the new cinema at silent green Kulturquartier and bringing together all of Arsenal’s areas of work under one roof at this fantastic location from 2026 onwards in particular mark a milestone in the history of the institution and will create outstanding conditions for developing new shared perspectives. In times of fast-moving and far-reaching transformations, institutional spaces for cultural exchange, shared learning and experimenting with alternative meeting and education formats are needed now more than ever. I’m glad to be able to set out the lasting structural framework conditions to this end together with the supervisory board, my co-director and the entire Arsenal team.”
In the name of the supervisory board, Adrienne Goehler expressed her gratitude to Aue’s predecessor Anna Mallmann: “In the past years, Anna Mallmann implemented different digitisation projects and established pioneering collaborative structures for Arsenal; due to her profound knowledge, her commitment and her calm approach to leadership in these challenging times of big changes, she was an inspiration for the entire time. Together with Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, she filled Arsenal’s dual leadership model with a lot of life and managed the move to silent green Kulturquartier in admirable fashion.”
As a charitable association, Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art fulfils a cultural mission. It receives funding to this end from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). Arsenal also receives project-related support from numerous institutions and partners.
