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Martina Wernsdörfer

Martina Wernsdörfer, Dr.

  • Vizedirektorin
  • Leitungsgremium
  • Kuratorin Asien
Phone
+41 44 634 90 21

Research interests

Material/Immaterial Culture and Practical Knowledge, Museum Anthropology, Ethnology of Religion and Art, Textiles

Regional specialization

South-, Central- and East Asia, Switzerland

Short bio

Dr. Martina Wernsdörfer is a curator at the Ethnographic Museum and has been its deputy director since 2019. She received her doctorate in Sinology from the University of Zurich in 2006 with a dissertation on the education system in the Tibet Autonomous Region in the second half of the 20th century. Prior to that, she studied Sinology, East Asian Art History, and Religious Studies, as well as Social Anthropology at the University of Zurich, the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan (Taiwan/Republic of China), and the Ruprecht Karls University in Heidelberg.

During and after her studies, Martina Wernsdörfer worked as an exhibition guide and project assistant at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, as Chinese-German translator at the Abegg Foundation in Riggisberg, and as research assistant at the Museum of Cultures in Basel. She led several trips to the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Martina Wernsdörfer has joined the team of the Ethnographic Museum in 2011. A cross-cutting theme of her research as Asia curator is human skill and practical knowledge in the fields of material and immaterial culture. She is also interested in museum anthropology topics such as ethnographic collecting, the significance of historical collections and the role of museums today. She is particularly committed to strengthening the interface between science and society, as well as between the museum and various stakeholders, through collaboration, participation, and, above all, dialogue.

Exhibitions

2023–2024 Mask Dances? 5 Questions on Ritual Costumes from Sri Lanka
2021–2023 Hidden Complexities – Unfolding Miao Women’s Textile Skills
2018–2019 Mapping – Retracing – Encountering. The Tibet Collections of Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter
2017 Small Bridge (in German)
2014–2015 Tokens of the Path. Devotional and Pilgrimage Images – The Wilfried Spinner Collection (1854–1918) (in German)
2014–2014 Drinking Skills. Mil, Palm Wine, Cassava Beer, Kava, Tea, Rice Beer (in German)
2012–2013 "One Must Collect Everything" – Zurich Botanist Hans Schinz and his Ethnographic Collection of South West Africa (in German)
2012 Images of the Heart. Japanese Ink Traces and Calligraphy (in German)
2012 The Culture of the Cultural Revolution. Personality Cult and Political Design in Mao's China (in German)
2009 Kanjur and Tanjur (in German)

 

Current research projects

  • The Scientific Tibet Legacy of Peter Aufschnaiter (2023–2026)
    Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Project Lead: Christian Jahoda. Funding Institution: Austrian Science Fund (FWF)

  • Maps as Knowledge Resources and Mapmaking as Process: The Case of the Mapping of Tibet (2023–2025)
    Hamburg University, Exzellence Cluster "Understanding Written Artefacts", Project Lead: Diana Lange

  • Partners in a Trading Zone – Development of a Trading Zone between Social Anthropology and Computer Science in the Context of Embroidery  (2023–2025)
    Digital Society Initiative Zurich (DIZH), Project Lead: Thomas Schmalfeldt (PHZH) and Mareile Flitsch (UZH)

  • Research and Evaluation of Japanese Buddhist Art in European Museums (2012 ongoing)
    Project funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Grant for "Japanese Studies Based on InternationaI Collaboration"

In the media

Radio Oe1, 28 May 2025, broadcast. Dimensionen: "Porträt: Peter Aufschnaiter. Grenzgänger zwischen Kitzbühel und Tibet" (Gestaltung: Ilse Huber)

UZH-Journal, 4/2020,portrait. Gesicht der Forschung: "Textilien lesen / Reading Textiles"

FAZ, 25 January 2015, Article. "Japan wortlos verstehen"

Metafilm, 2013, TV documentary. "Peter Aufschnaiter – Acht Jahre in Tibet" (Servus TV; Produktion: Fritz Kalteis)

Züritipp, 26 January 2012. "Vorurteile bitte draussen lassen"

Radio DRS 1, 9 December 2009. Wissen aktuell: "Heilige buddhistische Texte in Zürich"

Publications

ZORA Publication List

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Publications