Tomoë I. M. Steineck is an established curator / historian of art and culture specialised in theory of culture, collection strategy and religious heritage, with geographical focus on Japan. She has a BA degree from the University of Heidelberg, MA degree from SOAS – University of London. She has worked with the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Tokyo National Museum, the University of Zurich Museum of Ethnography, several galleries and auction houses, and independent exhibition projects as well as private collectors. Her main projects up to 2016 are the two large Japan exhibitions at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Fed. Rep. of Germany, and the Spinner (-Minami) Collection at the University of Zurich as well as the new bequest of the Spinner Family at request. In the field of Digital Humanities, she chief curated an international collaboration, launching a new database for Japanese religious projects in European Museums and private collections. Within the scope of the projects and as independent art historian, she catalogued and assessed Japanese religious collections around Europe in major museums from the British Museum to the Corfu Museum of Asian Art. All projects were documented in publications, films and catalogues. She completed her Ph.D. summa cum laude at the University of Tübingen in 2024, examining negotiations and interventions in cultural imperialism and its attendant sciences, particularly in relation to Protestant mission strategies and global historical dynamics. Her research foregrounds the role of the image in shaping and reflecting global cultural and social asymmetries, while advancing a critical inquiry into subaltern resistance articulated through visual vocality—modes of expression suppressed within the frameworks of cultural imperialism, yet also revealing countervailing choices within the contested visual regimes of the 19th-century West. Currently teaching at the Department of Art History, UZH, she also serves as a meta-consultant and strategist, developing and managing partnerships with external institutions such as the Rietberg Museum of the City of Zurich. In this role, she focuses on strategic development, academic content support, and fostering interdisciplinary cooperation. She lives in Zurich with her husband and daughter.