Michael Müller (artist, 1970)

Michael Anthony Müller (* 1970 in Ingelheim am Rhein ) is a German-English artist . He lives in Berlin .

life and work

At the age of fifteen his first exhibitions of his art followed, as well as six more until, at the age of 22, he went to the art academy in Düsseldorf - albeit only for a short time - to study in Magdalena Jetelová's class . He dropped out of college to travel. He was primarily interested in his grandmother's Indian roots: the Ladakh region on the border with Tibet. He developed his personal bond with India at the age of 16, when Müller became familiar with Indian music and came into contact with photographs of Tibetan monks. He traveled to the Ladakh region for the first time at the age of 23 and lived there mainly between 1992 and 2007. a. in the monastery of Alchi.

It was not the formal art school education that shaped Michael Müller, it was India and travel itself that had a great influence on his artistic work. This influence was reflected, for example, in a series of maps of imaginary places, the largest of which is now 22 meters long and is still in progress.

The foundation of Michael Müller's art is based on linguistic, numerical-mathematical or even stellar systems, which, despite having a certain basis on empirical results, are mostly invented by the artist himself.
Michael Müller's work is often based on a skeptical interest. He often deals with existing forms, methods and norms. The deviations into the irrational, which they help to create, and the resulting doubts about the existing, creates in him a will to assert his own forms.

Müller's artistic works include various media such as sculpture, installation, painting, and drawing. A frequently recurring theme in his work is that of translation. This can mean the translation from one language into another, as well as the translation as a transfer from one level of reality to another. Müller also dedicates numerous works to the aspect of the transitory, the incomprehensibility of a brief moment.

Michael Müller has been a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts since 2015.

K4 font

Michael Müller, K4 Schriftblatt, 1995-2005

One of Michael Müller's greatest projects is the invented language "K4". A project that has now lasted 25 years and consists of around 400,000 characters. "K4" was created in equal parts out of fun and accident. A friend of Müller was interested in borrowing his copy of the book " The Man Without Qualities " by Robert Musil . Müller refused, but suggested translating it for her.

He started translating as an intellectual exercise. Without changing their linguistic basis, he looked for a new notation system to translate the words of the novel. In the course of time, this experiment passed more into the realm of art than a kind of conglomerate of language and the representation of information. Nevertheless, the aim was always to make individual characters visually distinguishable and to make the artificial language theoretically learnable.

Parts of Musil's translation into "K4" are now often exhibited as works of art themselves and, in combination with other media, form the basis for the exhibition series "Eighteen Exhibitions".

Eighteen exhibitions

In April 2013 Michael Müller started his cycle of exhibitions “Eighteen Exhibitions” in the Thomas Schulte Gallery, Berlin. The duration of the exhibition varies between several weeks and a few hours, or exhibitions that are closed to the public. Twelve of the eighteen exhibitions have already been shown (as of January 2015). The final exhibition will be called "Small sample for Nietzsche's birthday party 2313".

The starting point of the exhibition cycle is also Robert Musil 's 1913 work “ The Man Without Qualities ”. Several large groups of the chapters translated by Müller into K4 can be seen in the gallery's exhibition space for the duration of the exhibitions.

Overview of eighteen exhibitions

1. In situ. Why Can't You See Thoughts (April 6, 2013)
2. Ex Situ (April 6-20, 2013)
3. Prologue: sketch of an exhibition. The problem of being contemporary today (April 10-20, 2013)
4. An exhibition that, unfortunately, has no name, not even “untitled”; in addition, how difficult and inappropriate it is to call an exhibition “An exhibition that has no name” and thus will simply be called “1913” from now on. Which is ultimately just a four-digit number and only casually thinks about a Savior and not only ignores a calculation error, but also ignores the fact that he was quite able to walk on water. (September 5, 2013)
5. Waiting room (September 6-19, 2013)
6. 1913 (September 6-19, 2013)
7. Sentimental tone painting: feeling and structure in C or the moment in which the thought announces itself in the form of a feeling (musical) (September 21 - October 5, 2013)
8. Der Spiegel (September 21 - November 9, 2013)
9. In 1913 Ulrich was still called differently: A preview (October 6-19, 2013)
10. Mont Blanc is higher than Mount Everest (October 22nd - November 9th 2013)
11. What is called art, what does being true mean to us? (May 31 - July 26, 2014)
12. The cubist Marcel Duchamp does not like to paint (August 16 - September 27, 2014)

Solo exhibitions (selection)

• 2018 An Exhibition as a Copy , Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong
• 2017 For All Those Who Trust in Form and Not in Content , Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, India
• 2016–2017 Skits - 13 exhibitions in 9 rooms , State Art Gallery Baden-Baden, Germany
• 2015–2016 Who speaks? , KW Institute for Contemporary Art - KUNST-WERKE BERLIN, Germany
• 2013–2015 Eighteen exhibitions , Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin, Germany
• 2011 Falling of a Cliff , with Channa Horwitz, François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 2011 Pieces of Music and Colors , Amrita Jhaveri, Mumbai, India
• 2010 What will he do with it? , Galerie Aanant & Zoo, Berlin, Germany
• 2008 Caoutchouc , Mummery & Schnelle, London, GB
• 2007 To the left and from the top , Art Cologne / Open Space (Coma), Cologne, Germany

Group exhibitions (selection)

• 2019 Your Art: The Condition of Being Art , Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
• 2018 What's essential , Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, India
• 2018 Art Prize of Böttcherstraße in Bremen 2018 , (shortlisted), Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany
• 2018 It smells like ... flowers & fragrances , me Collectors Room Berlin, Germany
• 2018 Everything we do is music , Art Center Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland
• 2018 Seven Exhibitions , Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam, Germany
• 2018 Germany is not an island , Bundeskunsthalle Bonn, Germany
• 2017 Artificial light , Fuhrwerkswaage, Cologne, Germany
• 2017 Everything we do is music , Drawing Room London, UK
• 2017 Late Breakfast , Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz, Austria
• 2016 STORMY DAYS , Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, India
• 2016 ... and one more world , Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany
• 2015 Fire and Forget. On Violence , KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany
• 2014 One place next to another , Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
• 2014 From Speaker to Receiver , Anna K. Meredith Gallery, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA, USA
• 2013 Painting forever! Stretcher , art works Berlin
• 2013 only here. Collection of contemporary art of the Federal Republic of Germany, purchases from 2007 to 2011 , Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany
• 2012 KAS awardee Else Heiliger Preis 2012 , Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Berlin, Germany
• 2010 360 °, Landart Biennale 2010 , Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• 2010 Doppler Effect, Pictures in Art and Science , Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Germany
• 2007 A Product of Free Will , Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany
• 2003 Desire of the Cartographer , Kunstverein Hannover, Germany

Web links

• Website Michael Müller
• Rory MacLean in conversation with Michael Müller
• Michael Müller at the Aanant & Zoo gallery
• Michael Müller at the Thomas Schulte Gallery

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lp/prj/mtg/men/kun/mue/en12939809.htm
2. ↑ Daniel Tyradellis : Margins of Art. The work of Michael Müller, in: Kuenstler. Critical Lexicon of Contemporary Art, Issue 108, Issue 9 (2014)
3. ↑ Doris Banuscher: People of the world , DIE WELT from November 20, 2001
4. ↑ Prof. Michael Anthony Müller. (No longer available online.) In: www.udk-berlin.de. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016 ; accessed on October 28, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ http://de.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/967756/der-berliner-michael-muller-der-kunstler-ohne-e features  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically defective marked. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ http://1m2.info/michael_mueller_deutsch.html / A journey into the dust, Clemens Krümmel
7. ↑ http://www.artnet.de/galerien/galerie-thomas-schulte/michael-m%C3%BCller-in-situ-warum-kann/
8. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ http://www.galeriethomasschulte.de/en/exhibitions/
10. ^ State art gallery Baden-Baden: Current program - State art gallery Baden-Baden. (No longer available online.) In: www.kunsthalle-baden-baden.de. Archived from the original on October 28, 2016 ; accessed on October 28, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ^ Art: Michael Müller: On stockings through Hades. In: Zeit Online. November 24, 2016, accessed November 30, 2016 . 
13. ↑ WHO'S SPEAKING? - Program - KW Institute for Contemporary Art. (No longer available online.) In: www.kw-berlin.de. October 28, 2016, archived from the original on October 28, 2016 ; accessed on October 28, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ KULTURA-EXTRA, the online magazine. In: www.kultura-extra.de. Retrieved October 28, 2016 . 
15. ↑ "Who speaks?" - Michael Müller exhibits in Berlin - WELT. In: THE WORLD. Retrieved October 28, 2016 . 
16. ↑ http://www.galeriethomasschulte.de/fileadmin/media/artists/michael-mueller/downloads/MichaelM_BIO.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
17. ↑ http://www.galeriethomasschulte.de/fileadmin/media/artists/michael-mueller/downloads/MichaelM_BIO.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.