Bettina Steinbrügge studied Fine Arts, English Philology and Comparative Literature in Kassel. She was director of the Halle für Kunst Lüneburg from 2001-2007. Steinbrügge has taught at the University of Lüneburg, the Kunstraum of Leuphana University of Lüneburg, and at the Haute école d’art et de design (HEAD) in Geneva.
In 2014, she was also appointed professor of art history at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg. From 2007 – 2017, she has been a member of the programming team for the Forum Expanded for the International Film Festival in Berlin (Berlinale). From 2009 to 2011, she curated for La Kunsthalle Mulhouse – Centre d’art contemporain, and from December 2010 to the end of 2013, she was senior curator for contemporary art at the Belvedere/21er Haus in Vienna. Steinbrügge is currently the director of the Hamburg Kunstverein (since January 2014), and publishes regularly on contemporary practices with particular focus on art and the moving image.