Born in 1979 in Vilsbiburg (Germany)
Lives and works in Berlin
After graduating from the Academy of Fine Art in Munich in 2005, Michael Sailstorfer studied at Goldsmiths College in London, and has since had a number of solo exhibitions at the Emmanuel Perrotin gallery in Paris and the Johann König gallery in Berlin. In 2004 he showed at the Sydney Biennial "On Reason and Emotion" and at Manifesta 5 in San Sebastian, following up with "Things Fall Apart All Over Again" at Artists Space, New York, in 2005 and "Transatlantique Impulse" at the Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, in 2006. His solo shows include "Nettoyer la Forêt" in 2012 at FRAC Haute Normandie.
Driven by constant exploration of matter as energy, his work focuses on transformation, deconstruction and reconstruction in its dealings with those intermediate, transitory spaces we unconsciously cross on our way to a given destination. Reception areas are a particular interest, whether indoors or outdoors, private or public.
Adopting an expanded concept of sculpture, Sailstorfer uses materials from his immediate surroundings, giving them new intensity in terms of sound, light and odour. In addition to its potential for political content, the artist's work charges the exhibition venue with an energy intended to generate a powerful experience of spatial perception.