Frankfurt am Main. The Caricatura Museum Frankfurt - Museum für Komische Kunst is pleased to announce the successful completion of its search for a new museum director. As of January 1, 2024, Martin Sonntag will take over the leadership of the popular Frankfurt exhibition house. He thus follows in the footsteps of Achim Frenz, the museum's founding father, who is taking a well-deserved retirement. The selection of the new director was made after a public tender and under the leadership of the head of culture and science Ina Hartwig.
The head of culture and science Ina Hartwig expressed her delight at the choice of Martin Sonntag: "I am very pleased that Martin Sonntag will take over the management of our Caricatura Museum. He is already well acquainted with the house and the museum is getting an accomplished expert in comic art. In addition to his network, he will bring many new ideas to Frankfurt and add new perspectives to the house. Especially in these times, Comic Art is particularly challenged to contribute to the formation of a critical public."
Martin Sonntag himself also expressed anticipation about his new role: "The Caricatura Museum Frankfurt is an exceptional museum in the important cultural city of Frankfurt. It is an exciting task to continue and further develop the successful work of the museum of the past years together with my colleagues. The aim is to further sharpen the museum's profile of the New Frankfurt School while at the same time embracing the dynamics of new trends in comic art. Particularly in politically and socially challenging times, comic art and visual satire have a special significance. I am looking forward to the collaboration in Frankfurt and to new perspectives for Comic Art."
Martin Sonntag, born in 1968 in Minden/Westphalia, graduated in History and Physical Education with a teaching degree from the Gesamthochschule / University of Kassel. Already during his studies, he worked at the Caricatura Gallery Kassel from 1994 and also accompanied the activities of the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt since its founding in 1999.
Since 2000, he has managed the Caricatura Gallery for Comic Art in Kassel, where he is responsible for over 100 exhibitions and 300 stage events of comic art. In 1999, he also founded an agency for comic art, which organized and supervised over 300 exhibitions in this field nationally and internationally.
In 2007, Martin Sonntag introduced the Summer Academy for Comic Art, a regular educational format dedicated to the training and further education of talents in the comic arts, which is unique in Germany. In 2020, he brought the prestigious German Cartoon Prize to Kassel, an award presented by the Frankfurt Book Fair and Lappan Verlag, which has been presented in Kassel ever since. He also serves on various juries for the comic arts, such as for the Göttingen Elk Satire Prize, the Caricature Prize of the German Federal Bar Association, and the German Cartoon Prize.
Most recently, he taught at Leibniz University in Hanover at the Faculty of Philosophy and devoted himself to the focus "Comic in Education". For his services, Martin Sonntag was able to receive the Cultural Award of the City of Kassel for the Summer Academy of Comic Art in 2019. In 2020, together with the Caricatura Museum Frankfurt, he received the Culture Prize of the State of Hesse, which was a first-time award for a museum or gallery in Hesse.
