Christian Ernsten is Assistant Professor in Heritage Studies in the Department of History of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University. He is affiliated with the Maastricht Centre for Arts and Culture, Conservation, and Heritage (MACCH) and he is a board member of the Maastricht Experimental Research in and through the Arts Network (MERIAN). Christian is the co-convenor of the Walking Seminar with Aarhus University-based archaeologist Nick Shepherd and Royal Academy of Arts The Hague-based photographer Dirk-Jan Visser.
Before joining Maastricht University, Christian was as a lecturer in Cultural Heritage and Museology at the Reinwardt Academy of the Amsterdam University of Arts. He holds a PhD from the University of Cape Town. He received an MA from the University of Groningen (with distinction) and an MPhil (with distinction) from the University of Cape Town. He has held visiting research fellowships at the Conservation Department of the University of Gothenburg, the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam, and the Centre for Uses of the Past at Aarhus University.
In a previous life, Christian directed the Amsterdam-based design and action collective Partizan Publik, as well as the Amsterdam 4 and 5 May committee, the organization that coordinates the WWII commemorative events in the city of Amsterdam. He also worked as an editor at Volume magazine, a quarterly for architecture and visual culture founded by Rem Koolhaas. Click here to find a selection of the projects he did before re-entering academia.