He specializes in contemporary visual culture, theory and criticism. Hennlich teaches modern and contemporary art, visual culture, and theory and criticism, including courses such as history of film, theories of vision, art since 1945, theories and methods of art history, and history of western art renaissance to the present. Hennlich’s research examines the relationships between memory and history in contemporary art, exploring these concepts in contemporary South African visual culture, issues of globalization, decolonization and post-War Germany. He is completing a monograph, (un)Fixing the Eye: William Kentridge and the Optics of Witness, based off of his Ph.D. thesis, received in Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Manchester in 2011.