Jessica Ullrich

Jessica Ullrich is an Acting Professor for Aesthetics and Art History at the Kunstakademie Münster, serving as a substitute for Prof. Dr. Nina Gerlach. She holds an honorary professorship at the same institution and has served as a guest lecturer at the Berlin University of the Arts, Goethe University Frankfurt, and the European University of Flensburg. Her academic journey includes a doctorate in Art History (2001) from Goethe University Frankfurt and a postgraduate degree in Cultural and Media Management from the Hanns Eisler Academy.

Her research focuses on animal-human relationships in contemporary art, critical posthumanism, and ecocriticism. Notable areas include lebende Tiere in art, multispecies studies, and the ethics of interspecies collaboration. She co-edits Tierstudien, Germany’s first academic journal for animal studies, and chairs Minding Animals Germany (2010–2020).

Ullrich has curated exhibitions like Tier-Perspektiven and organized international conferences such as Animal Encounters. Her work bridges art, ethics, and ecology through interdisciplinary networks like the Culture and Animals Foundation and the European Association for Critical Animal Studies. Key awards include a DFG doctoral scholarship and recognition for her contributions to nonhuman aesthetics.

Her academic output includes over 150 publications since 2000, with recent works addressing coral extinction, interspecies agency, and post-anthropocentric curating. She actively collaborates with institutions like the Georg-Kolbe-Museum and advises on ethical art practices involving nonhuman actors.