about us

philomena+ connects artists and architects from the WANA region (West Asia and North Africa) with the local art community in Vienna and vice versa. The main purpose is to provide a platform for artists, intellectuals, researchers and the civil society for dialoguing, questioning, creating and building future collaborations.

In addition philomena+ seeks to work with artists and architects, who originate from the WANA region, and have recently settled in Vienna or in Austria. philomena+ offers a first point of contact and support to find their feet in the new environment.

Rather than focusing on a type art which centres around objects, philomena+ promotes art which focuses on individuals and life.

team

Christine Bruckbauer

co-founder, director and co-curator of the visual art programme

bruckbauer@philomena.plus

Christine Bruckbauer is a curator, art writer and university lecturer with a research focus on contemporary art practices in North Africa, South and West Asia. With a sociological approach of art observation and an interest in transnational and postcolonial cultural-political developments she is dedicated to commissioning artists to explore the possibilities of engaging aesthetical, ecological, social or political dialogues in different contexts.

Negar Hakim

co-founder, curator, director of the architecture programme

hakim@philomena.plus

Negar Hakim studied art history at the University of Vienna. She is on the editorial board of Memar Magazine and Kunst und Kirche and has acted as co-editor of several other art and architecture magazines in the Middle East. Negar Hakim does intercultural consulting in art and architecture between Europe and Iran. Currently she is also a Univ. Ass. (lecturer) at the TU Wien, with a focus on non-European architecture.

Aline Lenzhofer

co-curator of the visual arts programme

lenzhofer@philomena.plus

Aline Lenzhofer is a curator and cultural worker with an interest in collaborative approaches, interdisciplinarity, and art works challenging dominant narratives. She studied Cultural and Social Anthropology and Applied Cultural Studies in Lyon and Vienna. She has worked with the Institut d’art contemporain in Lyon, Austrian Cultural Forum in Cairo, and Kulte Gallery & Editions in Rabat. For four years she was part of das weisse haus team in Vienna in charge of communication, exhibition management, and curation.

Ibrahim Dirani

photographer

info@philomena.plus

Ibrahim Dirani is a dedicated professional photographer, videographer, trainier and project manager. During his time as director at Dar Al Mussawir, he oversaw projects like the Beirut Image Festival. He managed a range of visual storytelling projects in collaboration with organizations such as UNICEF, UNHCR, or UNRWA on topics such as migration, education, gender equality and violence prevention. Only recently he moved to Vienna.

further team members

Asma Habibyar (since 2024)

Mathilde Burg (since 2024)

Toqa Eissa (since 2023)

Leopold Enzendorfer (since 2023)

Azadeh Hariri (since 2022)

Sam Bajoghli (since 2021)

Paola Boscaini (2023), Shirin Idais (2023), Valeria Meneghelli (2021), Alexander Meurer (2021-2022), Juliane Harder (2021), Alicia Frank (2021), Hannah Fally (2020-2023), Christina Winkler (2020-2022), Chinara Majidova (2020), Bárbara Palomino–Ruiz (2020-2022), Monika Mairhofer (2019), Daniel Marina (2019), Abdulrab Habibyar (2019-2021)