Karen Kipphoff has been employed as a professor at Norwegian Theatre Academy (NTA) at Østfold University College since 2012 (60% position). From 1999 to 2011, she held the position of professor in visual arts with a focus on installation and performance (100%) at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design in Norway. Kipphoff is currently the program coordinator for Master in Scenography at the NTA (HiØ).
Kipphoff is an artist educated in visual arts, cabinetmaking, puppetry, and theatre pedagogy. Karen worked at the Hamburger Kammerspiele, Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin and Theater am Turm, Frankfurt-am-Main, and has exhibited her artwork internationally as well as contributed to and published a number of catalogues, articles and anthologies. From 1990-1995 Karen taught Object and Play at Hochschule der Künste, Berlin, from 1999 -2011 she was Professor of Fine Arts and Performance at Kunsthøgskolen in Bergen. Since 2012 she is Professor of Scenography at the Norwegian Theatre Academy, Fredrikstad, and has led the artistic research projects Nordic Panoramic Interchange 2009-2010 as well as Blind Spot: Staring down the void, 2016-2020.
Kipphoff's educational background includes studies at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste (HfBK) in Hamburg (1978), the Novalis-Bühne in Stuttgart, and the Deutsches Institut für Puppenspiel (DIP) in Bochum (1979–1982), as well as theater pedagogy at the Hochschule der Künste (HDK) in Berlin (1993–1994). Her primary artistic research and development interests lie within visual arts, photography, media, performance, and scenography. Until 2020, she led the international artistic development project "Blind Spot – Staring Down the Void", which was externally funded by the Program for Artistic Development (now part of HK-dir) and organized in collaboration with partner institutions including Bergen Electronic Arts Centre (BEK), Bergen International Theatre (BIT), Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin (HZT), American University of Beirut (AUB), and tranzit.ro Bucuresti. Kipphoff has extensive publications, including articles, monographs, and anthologies, as well as substantial experience participating in, curating, and organizing numerous exhibitions, performances, conferences, and workshops worldwide. She has been appointed as a member of various assessment and expert committees for artistic programs at higher education institutions in Norway, Sweden, and Austria. She serves as a board member for several national art institutions and is currently the acting chairman of Bergen Kunsthall. Kipphoff has extensive and long-standing experience in teaching and mentoring at the master's and bachelor's levels, and she has supervised several Ph.D. students in Germany, Canada, and Norway.