Eric C. H. de Bruyn

Eric C. H. de Bruyn is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Institute of Art History, Freie Universität Berlin, where he has served since 2017. Previously, he held academic positions at University of Leiden (2010-2017), University of Groningen (2003-2010), and various institutions in the United States including SUNY, NYU, and Indiana University-Purdue University.

His research focuses on modern and contemporary art within Western and non-Western contexts, with particular emphasis on post-1945 art, photography, and film in Europe, North and South America. De Bruyn's work explores the history and theory of the avant-garde, art criticism, ecologies of art and media, critical theory, postcolonial theory, and the theory and history of documentary film and photography. His scholarship has been instrumental in establishing dialogue between art history and media studies, film studies, and science studies.

His publications include essays on artists such as Allan Sekula, Marcel Broodthaers, Dan Graham, David Lamelas, Lawrence Weiner, and contemporary figures including the Otolith Group and Wendelien van Oldenborgh. He is currently working on two book projects: Beyond Measure: Topologies of Post-War Art and Media and a volume of collected essays on artist film.

De Bruyn serves as editor of Grey Room, a journal publishing essays in architecture, art, media and politics. He has curated film programs at major institutions including the Whitney Museum, Tate Modern, MuMOK, and Pompidou Museum, and has served on international award committees such as the Andy Warhol Foundation and Terra Foundation.

He currently supervises PhD students including Yelena Pozdnyakova (The Lifelike Art Project: From Happenings to Services), João G. Rizek (Forms of Misrepresentation: Brazilian People Between Art and Politics 1968-1978), and Luise M. Willer. His teaching includes courses on new media, theories and methods in modern art, and contemporary art practices.