Michael Müller Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany, b. 1970

Michael Müller is a German conceptual artist who lives and works in Berlin. He studied sculpture with Magdalena Jetelová at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany. He was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts from 2015 to 2018. Müller’s work develops out of existing historical narratives, methods and norms – systems which he pushes to their limits by modifying them along fictitious lines. His practice engages with the pictorialization of complex thought processes, whose transformation by various methods constitutes a slow and patient appropriation. Although primarily known for his drawings and paintings, Müller's approach merges media such as sculpture, installation and performative art with curatorial practice itself. 

The works of Michael Müller are usually neither reducible to a common denominator in terms of content nor can they be attributed a unified, recognizable formal language. His exhibitions are shaped by diversity, heterogeneity, and ambiguity. Different languages of art are tried out, combined, contrasted, or placed side by side as equals. His exhibits are often connected to long-term, overarching work complexes that weave a network of forms, motifs, and subjects that wind through the exhibitions. 

Galerie du Monde presented Müller’s first exhibition in Hong Kong and East Asia in Spring 2018. An Exhibition as a Copy showcased more than twenty conceptual multimedia works that are emblematic of Müller’s artistic pursuit for exploring the intrinsic relationship between the original and the copy.

Select solo exhibitions include Deine Kunst, Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg (2019-2021); The Pregnant Man, Studio Michael Müller, Berlin (2019); Stripping the Force, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen (2018); An Exhibition as a Copy, Galerie du Monde, Hong Kong (2018); Vor und hinter dem Glas, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam (2017); For All Those Who Trust in Form and Not in Content, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2017); SKITS – 13 Exhibitions in 9 Rooms, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Baden-Baden (2016-2017); Who's Speaking? / Wer spricht?, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2015-2016); 18 exhibitions (2011-2017), Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin (2015); and Musikstücke und Farben, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2011).

Select group exhibitions include What’s essential, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2018); Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße in Bremen 2018, Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen (2018); It smells like...flowers & fragrances, me Collectors Room, Berlin (2018); Everything we do is music, Art Centre Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland (2018); Late Breakfast, Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz, Austria (2017); Farewell to an Idea, Plattenpalast, Berlin (2016); ...und eine Welt noch, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg (2016); 10x10, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Berlin (2015); Fire and Forget. On Violence, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2015); 1/1, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam, Potsdam (2015); One place next to another, Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow (2014); L'Art et La Santé, Sanofi France, Paris (2013); How to make – Ideen, Notationen, Materialisierungen, Kunsthaus Dresden, Dresden (2012); 360° – Landart Biennale, Ulaanbaatar (2012); and Dopplereffekt. Bilder in Kunst und Wissenschaft, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Hamburg (2010).

His work is held in private and public collections including Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea (CGAC), Santiago de Compostela; MOCA Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; Sammlung Bergmeier Halle, Berlin; and Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg. Awards include the Kunstpreis der Böttcherstraße, Bremen (2017); and the Sanofi Art Project (2013).