Isolde A. Brielmaier

Associate Professor

Isolde Brielmaier

BIOGRAPHY

Isolde Brielmaier is Associate Professor of Critical Studies in the Department of Photography, Imaging and Emerging Media at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Isolde’s areas of scholarly interest include: global visual culture; race, gender, class studies; social media and technology; curatorial studies; contemporary artistic practice, and the on-going dynamic between art, artists and the international art market as well as the public and private sectors.

An innovative leader in arts and cultural strategy and social impact, Isolde has over two decades of experience working at the intersection of the private, public, academic and non-profit sectors. 

Most recently, Isolde served as the Deputy Director and Chief Innovation Officer of the New Museum of Contemporary Art where she was part of the executive team overseeing the venue's 60,000-square-foot expansion. Prior to this, Isolde served as Executive Director of Arts, Culture & Community initiatives at Westfield World Trade Center, a private sector role in which she developed and scaled strategic partnerships, cultural events, artist projects and installations across Westfield properties—nationally.

As an independent consultant, Isolde has developed and contributed to contemporary art and culture initiatives for a broad range of companies including Peninsula Hotel Group, Apple, Theory, AWS, Valentino, Art Basel Miami, the Armory Show NY, and ARCO Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid, Spain, among others. 

Isolde was previously Curator-at-Large at the International Center for Photography (ICP) in NYC, Chief Curator for the SCAD Museum of Art, and has collaborated with noted contemporary artists including Carrie Mae Weems, Tyler Mitchell, Richard Mosse, Wangechi Mutu, Bill Viola, and Bharti Kher, to name a few. 

Isolde is the author of, I am Sparkling (2022) and the edited volume Culture as Catalyst (2020) as well as numerous articles and journal essays. She serves as Editor at Large at Air Mail, Graydon Carter’s new media venture and has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Elle, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Modern Luxury, WNYC Radio, CNN, the Today Show, the Washington Post, and Cultured among others. 

She is deeply committed to the promotion of social justice and human rights, specifically global women’s issues and criminal justice reform and serves on the board of Prep for Prep New York and the sustainable luxury fashion brand Another Tomorrow, as well as an advisor to the Women's Prison Association (WPA) and Malaika, an all-girls school in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Isolde speaks regularly on topics related to art, culture, leadership and social impact. She lives in New York City.

 

 

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Columbia University