MSU Broad Art Museum Appoints New Curators, Dr. Teresa Fankhänel and Rachel Winter

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (MSU Broad Art Museum) is pleased to announce the additions of Dr. Teresa Fankhänel, Associate Curator, and Rachel Winter, Assistant Curator, to the museum staff with responsibilities in the curatorial department.

Before joining the MSU Broad Art Museum as Associate Curator, Dr. Teresa Fankhänel worked as a curator at the Architecture Museum Munich, Germany, where she created an exhibition on the history of the computer in architecture called The Architecture Machine (2020–21) and produced a show on contemporary African architecture and urbanism called African Mobilities (2018) together with South African curator Mpho Matsipa. She was an associate professor in the department of Architectural History and Curatorial Practice at the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Fankhänel holds a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and a master’s degree from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, United Kingdom.

Fankhänel’s interests straddle the intersection of technology, ecology, and social practices. She views exhibitions as a premier medium for telling unfamiliar and compelling stories, which enable conversations that extend beyond the walls of the museum: “I believe that exhibition-making is always a successful combination of thoughtful research, excellent spatial storytelling, and outstanding attention to detail. Exhibitions are first and foremost an opportunity to engage audiences—professional, student, and leisure—in discussions about our individual histories as well as current, pressing issues. It is my aim as a curator to identify and tell the stories that are most relevant to our society today.”

Rachel Winter, Assistant Curator, previously worked at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). She received her BA in Art History and MA in Islamic & Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Iowa, and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the History of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As an art historian of global contemporary art, Winter focuses on modern and contemporary art from the Middle East. She is excited to bring this research to Michigan for how it resonates with the state’s history as a home for many from the Arab world, including artists. She is a faculty affiliate of MSU’s Muslim Studies Program, and a member of the Association of Art Museum Curators, the College Art Association, and the Association for Modern + Contemporary Art of the Arab World, Iran, + Turkey. Winter comments, “University art museums are important spaces for innovation and collaboration that not only generate thought-provoking exhibitions, but can transform the ways students learn, and faculty teach.”

“This year marks the 10th anniversary of the MSU Broad Art Museum, an opportunity to reflect and also to imagine the future. It is with great excitement and anticipation that we welcome Dr. Teresa Fankhänel and Rachel Winter to the curatorial staff of the museum during this momentous time. Together, their contributions to defining the vision of the museum in the years ahead will further build upon the foundation of this institution as a key educational and cultural hub in the region, as well as nationally and internationally,” comments Steven L. Bridges, Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs. “With their rigorous scholarship, curatorial prowess, and keenness for creative inquiry, the museum is well positioned to make an even greater impact in the years to come.”

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (MSU Broad Art Museum) connects people with art through experiences that inspire curiosity and inquiry. Presenting exhibitions and programs that engage diverse communities around issues of local relevance and global significance, the MSU Broad advances the university values of quality, inclusion, and connectivity. Opened on November 10, 2012, the museum was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid and named in honor of Eli and Edythe Broad, longtime supporters of the university who provided the lead gift for its creation.

Michigan State University has been working to advance the common good in uncommon ways for more than 150 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU focuses its vast resources on creating solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges, while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.