About

My work focus­es on spa­tial con­struc­tions in the Anthro­pocene, which I under­stand as frag­ments of a world view for our time. To this end, I engage inten­sive­ly with spaces, land­scapes and envi­ron­ments in their diverse forms. I am par­tic­u­lar­ly inter­est­ed in the inter­re­la­tion­ships between their mate­r­i­al and imma­te­r­i­al aspects (nar­ra­tives, mem­o­ries, sto­ries, ide­olo­gies, beliefs), between the vis­i­ble and the invis­i­ble, between past, present and future, between facts and fic­tions. Com­bin­ing art, archi­tec­ture and anthro­pol­o­gy, I move back and forth between research and its spec­u­la­tive trans­for­ma­tion. I use a wide range of media – such as draw­ing, paint­ing, print­ing, pho­tog­ra­phy, sculp­ture, instal­la­tion, build­ing, sound and text – to crit­i­cal­ly and spec­u­la­tive­ly engage with exist­ing and pos­si­ble world constructions.

I stud­ied archi­tec­ture at ETH Zurich, phi­los­o­phy at Hum­boldt Uni­ver­sität zu Berlin and com­plet­ed my doc­tor­al dis­ser­ta­tion on “Myth­i­cal Con­struc­tions” at Berlin Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts (UdK). I was a res­i­dent at YARAT Con­tem­po­rary Art Space in Baku, the Cité inter­na­tionale des arts in Paris, Vil­la Kamo­gawa (Goethe-Insti­­tut) in Kyoto and SACO (with Goethe-Insti­­tut and Insti­tut Français) in Antofa­gas­ta. I am the recip­i­ent of the Hans Hollein Fel­low­ship 2020 and the Rome Prize 2015 by the Ger­man Acad­e­my Vil­la Massimo.

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TEACHING/ RESEARCH

TU Delft / Gold­smiths, Uni­ver­si­ty of Lon­don / Aarhus Uni­ver­si­ty, Post­doc­tor­al Researcher, 2022 — 2024

Acad­e­my of Fine Arts Vien­na, Guest Pro­fes­sor (2021–2022)

Transart Insti­tute, Liv­er­pool, Lec­tur­er for Visu­al Arts, 2021 — ongoing

HSLU Lucerne, Lec­tur­er, 2017 — ongoing

Swiss Fed­er­al Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy, ETH Zurich: Deputy Pro­fes­sor (2013), Direc­tor of Stud­ies (2013–2016), Assis­tant (2008–2009 and 2011–2013), Chair Marc Angélil

Papua New Guinea Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy, Direc­tor of the Archi­tec­ture Pro­gram, 2009–2010

Papua New Guinea Uni­ver­si­ty of Tech­nol­o­gy, Mem­ber of the Board of Direc­tors of the Archi­tec­tur­al Her­itage Cen­tre of Papua New Guinea, 2009–2010

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SCHOL­AR­SHIPS AND AWARDS

Freiraum­beitrag by the Can­ton of Zurich, 2021

Work Grant by Stiftung Kun­st­fonds, 2021

Post­doc grant by the Swiss Nation­al Sci­ence Foun­da­tion, 2021

Res­i­den­cia Res­o­nan­cias (Goethe Insti­tut, Insti­tut Français, SACO), Antofa­gas­ta, res­i­den­cy 2020/2022

Hans Hollein Fel­low­ship, by the fed­er­al gov­ern­ment of Aus­tria, 2020

Vil­la Kamo­gawa (Goethe Insti­tut), Kyoto, res­i­den­cy 2019

Stu­dio Grant Rote Fab­rik by the city of Zurich, Zurich, 2019

BINZ39 Foun­da­tion, Zurich, res­i­den­cy 2019

Cité inter­na­tionale des arts, Paris, res­i­den­cy 2018

YARAT Con­tem­po­rary Art Space, Baku, res­i­den­cy 2017

Rome Prize by the Ger­man Acad­e­my Rome Vil­la Mas­si­mo, 2015

Pre­mio Com­bat, art prize 2015

Res­i­den­cy and work grants by the city of Zurich, 2015, finalist

Lis­bon Tri­en­nale Début Award, 2013, finalist

Swiss Art Awards, 2012, finalist

Arte Lagu­na Prize, 2012, finalist

Ger­man Nation­al Aca­d­e­m­ic Foun­da­tion, 2003–2008

SIA-Prize, 2008

Erich-Degen-Foun­da­tion, 2007 und 2008

Sutor-Foun­da­tion, 2005

Cusanuswerk, 2004–2005

E‑Fellows, 2002–2008

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SOLO EXHI­BI­TIONS

“Pläne / Plans”, Kun­straum Englän­der­bau, Vaduz, 2024

“Ter­ra Pri­ma”, Kabi­nett Vis­arte, Zurich, 2022

“Día y Noche”, Museo Ruinas de Huan­cha­ca, Antofa­gas­ta, (with Guil­laume Oth­enin-Girard), 2022

“Three Years of Autumn”, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, 2021

“Ausleuch­tung”, Kun­stvere­in im Kloster Neuzelle, Eisen­hüt­ten­stadt, 2020

“Waste­land Ges­tures”, BINZ39 Foun­da­tion, Zurich, 2019

“Non­hu­man Tales”, Cité inter­na­tionale des arts, Paris, 2018

“Vis­cous Myths”, Yarat Con­tem­po­rary Art Space— artim, Baku, 2018

“Chiaroscuro”, Kun­stvere­in Ingol­stadt, Ingol­stadt, 2017

“Masken und Spiegel/Masks and Mir­rors”, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, 2017

“Around the Island”, AB Con­tem­po­rary Zurich, 2015/2016

“Beyond the Shores of Utopia”, House of Archi­tec­ture, Graz, Decem­ber 3, 2015/2016

“Toward the Van­ish­ing Points”, AB Con­tem­po­rary Zurich, 2015

“Frag­ments from Utopia”, Arti­fact Gallery, New York, 2015

“The­atrum Orbis Ter­rarum”, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, 2014

“Archi­tec­tures of Sal­va­tion, Archi­tec­tures of Damna­tion”, exhi­bi­tion space Maria HIL F, chair Karin Sander, ETH Zurich, 2013

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GROUP EXHI­BI­TIONS

“Weav­ing Worlds”, Het Nieuwe Insti­tu­ut, Rot­ter­dam, 2023

“Best of 2022”, Vis­arte Zürich, 2022–2023

“Pow­er! Light!”, Kun­st­mu­se­um Wolfs­burg, 2022

“Verbindungsstücke – Tsunagu Mono Gatari“, Goethe-Insti­tut Vil­la Kamo­gawa, Kyoto and CLB Berlin, 2021–2022

“Best of 2021”, Vis­arte Zurich, 2021–2022

“Oil. Beau­ty and Hor­ror of the Petrol Age”, Kun­st­mu­se­um Wolfs­burg, 2021–2022

“Between Mod­el and Muse­um”, Kun­stvere­in im Kloster Neuzelle, Eisen­hüt­ten­stadt, 2020

“2020”, Art with Heart, Zurich, 2020

“Scratch Your Face Away”, Mate­r­i­al, Zurich, 2019

“Les Tra­ver­sées du Marais”, Cité inter­na­tionale des arts, Paris, 2018

“Mythen. Muster. Migra­tion”, Foli­um, Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Art Space, Zurich, 2016

“Par­cours Humain”, Tic Tric Trac, Zurich, 2016

“Incon­tri – Lega­mi”, with Gea Caso­laro and Via Lewandows­ki, artQ13, Rome, 2016

“Die Nacht der Vil­la Mas­si­mo”, Final exhi­bi­tion of the Ger­man Acad­e­my Rome Vil­la Mas­si­mo, Mar­tin Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2016

“Finale”, Final exhi­bi­tion of the Ger­man Acad­e­my Rome Vil­la Mas­si­mo, Rome, 2015

“New Gen­er­a­tion Fes­ti­val”, Palaz­zo Pisani, Loni­go, 2015

“Res­i­den­cy and work grants by the city of Zurich”, Helmhaus, Zurich, 2015

“Pre­mio Com­bat”, Museo Civi­co G. Fat­tori, Livorno, 2015

“Spazi Aper­ti”, Roman­ian Acad­e­my, Rome, 2015

“Sum­mer Exhi­bi­tion”, Vil­la Mas­si­mo, Rome, 2015

“Open Stu­dios”, Vil­la Mas­si­mo, Rome, 2015

“Archi­tec­ture. What else?”, Kul­tur­tankstelle, Döt­tin­gen, 2014

“Periph­er­al Archi­tec­ture”, Architektur14, Maag Halle, Zurich, 2014

“Side effects”, Side effects art space in the con­text of Art Basel, Basel, 2014

“The­atrum”, Pho­to­bastei, Zurich, 2014

“4 Mon­u­ments”, Grafik14, Maag Halle, Zurich, 2014

“Das Mod­ell vom Mod­ell vom Mod­ell vom – ist die Welt”, with Lukas Geis­sel­er, Thomas Knüsel and Mat­ter­Luechinger, art space –ion+, Zurich, 2014

“You are here”, with Lukas Geis­sel­er and Thomas Knüsel, Zoll­haus, Lucerne, 2013

“there is no there there”, Architektur13, Maag Halle, Zurich, 2013

“Sketch”, Ford­ham Uni­ver­si­ty Cen­ter Gallery, Lin­coln Cen­ter, New York, 2013

Cut­log Art fair, with Gallery Armin Berg­er Con­tem­po­rary Zurich, Paris, 2012

Art Bodensee, with Gallery Armin Berg­er Con­tem­po­rary Zurich, Dorn­birn, 2012

“The­atrum Orbis Ter­rarum“, Swiss Art Awards, Basel, 2012

Pre­mio Arte Lagu­na, final­ists‘ exhi­bi­tion, Arse­nale, Venice, 2012

“Die Stadt und ihr Boden”, New Tech Club, Schlieren, 2010

“Sub­ur­ban Wilder­ness”, Grad­u­ate Show ETH Zurich, Zurich, 2007

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CURAT­ED EXHIBITIONS

“Verbindungsstücke / つなぐモノ語り”, Goethe-Insti­tut Vil­la Kamo­gawa Kyoto in col­lab­o­ra­tion with CLB Berlin, 2022

“Mon­u­men­tal”, Yarat Con­tem­po­rary Art Space, Artim, Baku, 2018

“Lev­enti­na – Visions for a Val­ley”, Exho­tel Suisse, Fai­do, 2014

“Raw, Rough, Robust”, ETH Zurich, 2014

“Vision­ary Nota­tions”, ETH Zurich, 2011

“The Sub­ur­ban Stage”, ETH Zurich, 2009

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COL­LEC­TIONS

Art Col­lec­tion of the Ger­man Par­lia­ment (Kun­st­samm­lung des Deutschen Bundestages)

Zürcher Kan­ton­al­bank

Kun­st­mu­se­um Wolfsburg

Art Col­lec­tion of the City of Zurich

Ger­man Acad­e­my Rome Vil­la Massimo

Pri­vate collections

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BOOKS

Spir­it Struc­tures of Papua New Guinea: Art and Archi­tec­ture in the Kaiaimunucene, Rout­ledge, London/New York 2024 (forth­com­ing)

Verbindungsstücke / つなぐモノ語り, coedit­ed with Enzio Wet­zel, Goethe-Insti­tut Vil­la Kamo­gawa Kyoto, Was­muth & Zohlen Ver­lag, Berlin 2022.

Lap­i­dar­i­um, Edi­to­r­i­al Sande, Zurich 2021.

Mythis­che Kon­struk­tio­nen, Was­muth & Zohlen Ver­lag, Berlin 2021

Geis­ter­grund / Spir­it Grounds / 霊地, Ver­lag für Mod­erne Kun­st, Vien­na 2021

Chiaroscuro, con­di­tion H Press, Munich 2017

Masken und Spiegel / Masks and Mir­rors,     con­di­tion H Press, Munich 2017

Schnittlinien/ Cut­ting Lines, con­di­tion H Press, Munich 2016

Toward the Van­ish­ing Points, Havel­ka Ver­lag, Zurich 2015

The­atrum Orbis Ter­rarum, Havel­ka Ver­lag, Zurich 2014

Abecedar­i­um zur Periph­erie, coedit­ed with Marc Angélil, Ruby Press, Berlin 2013

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BOOK CHAP­TERS, ARTI­CLES AND ESSAYS

“Kaiaimuntek­tur”, Let­tre Inter­na­tion­al, Berlin 2022

“Dirty Work”, Writ­ing­place 7, Delft 2022

“Adren­a­lin”, Pro­to­col 13, Berlin Uni­ver­si­ty of the Arts, Berlin, 2022

“Dis­solves”, Ves­per 7, Uni­ver­sità Iuav di Venezia, Venice 2022

“A Con­ver­sa­tion with Michael Hirschbich­ler”, trans mag­a­zin 40, Zurich 2022

“Michael Hirschbich­ler reads Cre­ative Engage­ments with Ecolo­gies of Place: 

Geopo­et­ics, Deep Map­ping and Slow Res­i­den­cies”, Site-Read­ing Writ­ing Quar­ter­ly, ed. Jane Ren­dell, March 2022. https://site-readingwritingquarterly.co.uk/march-2022/

“Dreck­sar­beit / Dirty Work”, Review Sum­mer 2022, Acad­e­my of Fine Arts Vien­na, Vien­na 2022

“Total Archi­tec­ture: Oppo­si­tion and Inte­gra­tion in the Gogo­dala Long­house”, in:  BIG. Things, Inter­pre­ta­tions, Dimen­sions. Muse­um der Kul­turen Basel, Basel 2016. http://gross.mkb.ch, 2016

“EAST­OPIA – Design in the Con­text of Social­ist Utopias”, in: Year­book 2015, edit­ed by Departe­ment of Archi­tec­ture, ETH Zurich, gta-Ver­lag, Zurich 2015

“Jen­seits der Küste Utopias”, trans mag­a­zin 25, Zurich 2014

“There is no there there”, MAS Con­text 23, Fall 2014, Chica­go 2014

“There is no there there”, trans mag­a­zin 24, Zurich 2014

“Roh, Rau, Robust — Coun­ter­clock­wise around the Got­thard Mas­sif”, in: Year­book 2014, edit­ed by Departe­ment of Archi­tec­ture, ETH Zurich, gta-Ver­lag, Zurich 2014

“Of Ruins and Anti-Ruins”, Plat Jour­nal 3.0, Hous­ton 2013

“The­atrum Orbis Ter­rarum – Architek­tur der Überre­dung und Ein­schüchterung”, Hor­i­zonte 6, Weimar 2013

“Roh, Rau, Robust – Archi­tec­ture as Infra­struc­ture”, in: Year­book 2013, edit­ed by Departe­ment of Archi­tec­ture, ETH Zurich, gta-Ver­lag, Zurich 2013

“Pet­ri­fied Traces”, MAS Con­text 19, Fall 2013, Chica­go 2013

“Die architek­tonis­che For­mung des Men­schen”, archithese 6.2012, Zurich 2012

“REmIKS. Negocjowanie postide­o­log­icznych ide­ologii”, in: The Glo­ry of the City, Fun­da­ca Bec Zmi­ana, War­saw, 2012

“The­atrum Orbis Ter­rarum”, trans mag­a­zin 21, Zurich 2012

“REmIX_ Die Ent­deck­ung des Neuen im Alten”, archithese 4.2012, Zurich 2012

“Notable Real­i­ties – Bal­anc­ing from world to world”, MAS Con­text 14, Sum­mer 2012, Chica­go 2012

“Notat­ing Archi­tec­ture”, in: Year­book 2012, edit­ed by Departe­ment of Archi­tec­ture, ETH Zurich, gta-Ver­lag, Zurich 2012

“ZURICH: Two muse­ums”, PIN-UP Mag­a­zine Spring Sum­mer 2012, New York 2012

“REmIX_ Nego­ti­at­ing post-ide­o­log­i­cal ide­olo­gies”, MONU Mag­a­zine on Urban­ism 15, Rot­ter­dam 2011

“Gri­massen und Freaks – Kom­po­si­tion als Grenz­überschreitung”, trans mag­a­zin 19, Zurich 2011

“copy, paste, invert, for­get”, trans mag­a­zin 19, Zurich 2011

“Architek­tur und Hand­lung”, in: Year­book 2009, edit­ed by Departe­ment of Archi­tec­ture, ETH Zurich, gta-Ver­lag, Zurich 2009

“Die Stadt der Akteure – Der informelle Trans­for­ma­tion­sprozess der Gecekon­dus”, Arch+ 195, Berlin 2009

“The Plan as Visu­al Medi­um – Between Abstrac­tion and Con­cretizazion”, Gen­er­al­ist 1, Darm­stadt 2009

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LEC­TURES AND CONFERENCES

“Dirty Work”, LOOP, Zurich, Novem­ber 4, 2023

“Dirty Work”, Mass­a­chu­setts Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy„ Octo­ber 2, 2023

“My Mod­el Uni­verse”, Inns­bruck Uni­ver­si­ty, June 23, 2023

“Dreck­sar­beit”, HTWG Kon­stanz, June 14, 2023

“Zwis­chen-Kon­struk­tio­nen“, Bauhaus Uni­ver­si­ty Weimar, May 17, 2023

“Ground Work”, Cen­tre for Envi­ron­men­tal Human­i­ties, Aarhus University,

April 28, 2023

“Design with Soil“, con­tri­bu­tion to BK Talks, TU Delft, March 16, 2023

“In the Thick of It“, Acad­e­my of Fine Arts Vien­na, March 7, 2023

“In the Thick of It”, HafenCi­ty Uni­ver­si­ty Ham­burg, Feb­ru­ary 21, 2023

“Mythis­che Kon­struk­tio­nen”, Paz­i­fik-Infor­ma­tion­sstelle Neuen­det­tel­sau, June 27, 2022

“Dirty Work”, Acad­e­my of Fine Arts Vien­na, June 20, 2022

“Desert Tales”, Stu­dio Trans­dis­ci­pli­nary Encoun­ters, TU Delft, May 17, 2022

“Of Mod­els and Mon­sters”, Uni­ver­sität Inns­bruck, studio2, April 25, 2022

“Ground Works”, The Berlage, TU Delft, April 21, 2022

“Ground Works”, Bor­ders & Ter­ri­to­ries Stu­dio, TU Delft, April 21, 2022

“Sto­ried Grounds”, Yazd, Iran, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Aus­tri­an Cul­tur­al Forum Teheran, April 20, 2022

“Dirty Work”, Accad­e­mia di architet­tura di Men­dri­sio, April 11, 2022

“Spir­it Hous­es”, Muse­um der Kul­turen Basel, April 6, 2022

“Michael Hirschbich­ler: Vis­arte-Talks #5”, Stu­dio Foce, Lugano, April 5, 2022

“Verbindungsstücke“, Goethe-Insti­tut, Per­pet­u­al Beta Fes­ti­val, Jan­u­ary 18, 2022

“Japon­is­men: Ver­schlin­gun­gen in Kun­st und Architek­tur”, Muse­um Fünf Kon­ti­nente, Munich, Decem­ber 2, 2021

“Dirty Work”, ZHDK Zurich, Dezem­ber 1, 2021

“Darstel­lung, Vorstel­lung, Ein­stel­lung”, Bauhaus Uni­ver­sität Weimar, May 10, 2021

“Archi­tec­tur­al Mon­sters”, Hong Kong Uni­ver­si­ty, Octo­ber 22, 2020

“Cocre­ation: Of Men, Spir­its and Mon­sters”, Con­fer­ence Cowork­ing Mate­ri­als, Kun­stu­ni­ver­sität Linz / Hum­boldt Uni­ver­sität zu Berlin, IFK, Octo­ber 8–9, 2020

“Kaiaimunutek­tur”, Architek­tur­fo­rum Solothurn, August 14, 2020

Urhüt­ten”, UdK Berlin, April 24, 2020

“Re-Map­ping Myths”, Yarat Con­tem­po­rary Art Space, Baku, April 20, 2020

“Karten und Mythen”, Staatliche Akademie der Bilden­den Kün­ste Karl­sruhe, Jan­u­ary 14, 2020

“Nar­ra­tive Archäolo­gie”, Goethe Insti­tut Vil­la Kamo­gawa, Kyoto, Novem­ber 30, 2019

“Mythis­che Kon­struk­tio­nen”, PhD defense, UdK Berlin, Octo­ber 28, 2019

“Archäolo­gie als Meth­ode”, HSLU, Lucerne, Feb­ru­ary 18, 2019

“Fetish-Fac­tish”, HSLU, Lucerne, Feb­ru­ary 19, 2018

“2 Books”, Azer­bai­jan State Acad­e­my of Fine Arts, Baku, Novem­ber 30, 2017

“Chiaroscuro”, Yarat Acad­e­my, Baku, Octo­ber 1, 2017

“Chiaroscuro”, Kun­stvere­in Ingol­stadt, Ingol­stadt, March 17, 2017

“Zwis­chen virtueller Archäolo­gie und real­er Speku­la­tion”, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, March 9, 2017

“Spiegel und Utopie”, Muthe­sius Kun­sthochschule, Kiel, July 19, 2016

“Spiegelun­gen”, HafenCi­ty Uni­ver­sität, Ham­burg, June 3, 2016

“Spiegel, Schat­ten, Fata Mor­gana”, ZHAW, Win­terthur, April 25, 2016

“Around the Island”, Galerie A¦B¦C ontem­po­rary, Zurich, Feb­ru­ary 12, 2016

“Jen­seits der Küste Utopias”, House of Archi­tec­ture Graz, Decem­ber 2, 2015

“So Far”, Ger­man Acad­e­my Rome Vil­la Mas­si­mo, Rome, March 6, 2015

“The Ordi­nary and the Mag­i­cal”, Tal­iesin – The Frank Lloyd Wright School of Archi­tec­ture, Scots­dale, Feb­ru­ary 6, 2015

“The Ordi­nary and the Mag­i­cal”, key note lec­ture, Uni­ver­si­dad Autóno­ma de Aguas­calientes, Octo­ber 20, 2014

“Masken und Spiegel”, ETH Zürich, Sep­tem­ber 23, 2014

“Masks and Mir­rors”,   Archi­tec­tur­al Fac­ul­ty Zagreb, July 25, 2014

“Jen­seits der Küste Utopias”, Galerie Karin Sachs, Munich, June 27, 2014

“The­atrum Orbis Ter­rarum”, ETH Zurich, Sem­i­nar „Law & Order” Prof. Tön­nes­mann, May 15, 2014

“Weltkarten und Karten­wel­ten”, ETH Zürich, April 30, 2014

“Weltkarten und Karten­wel­ten”, TU München, Novem­ber 28, 2013

“There is no there there”, ETH Zurich, lec­ture series De-Local­ize, Octo­ber 28, 2013

“The­atrum Orbis Ter­rarum”, SIA Zürich, EXIL, Octo­ber 3, 2013

“REmIX”, ETH Zurich, April 17, 2013