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