M a t t h i a s   M ü l l e r

b. 1961, Bielefeld, Germany
Lives and works in Bielefeld, Germany

Matthias Müller Vacancy 1998 16 mm film transferred to DVD, projected, 14:30 minutes Courtesy Thomas Erben Gallery, New York

Matthias Müller makes films that explore the impact of film on the traumas, memories and dreams of urban subjects. Mining the collective visual archive created by cinema over the last century, and exploiting the semantics of the medium itself, he teases out relationships between cinema, ideology, and reality, often juxtaposing the conventions of classic Hollywood filmmaking with experimental narrative and image-making techniques. In Vacancy (1998), he plays on the texture and saturated colors of super-8 and 16mm film to explore the interweaving of nostalgia, myth and reality in Brasília, the utopian city designed by modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer and built ex-nihilo between 1956-60. Müller’s film combines images of the new city taken in 1960 with recent footage. The resulting montage blurs historical and subjective perspectives with seductive cinematographic effects to create a fugitive impression of an urban space invested in its own image.

Matthias Müller Vacancy 1998 16 mm film transferred to DVD, projected, 14:30 minutes Courtesy Thomas Erben Gallery, New York

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2002 Phantoms, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK. 2000 Nebel, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany. Home Stories, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Selected Group Exhibitions
2003 Static, Tent, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Strangers: 1^st ICP Triennial, International Center of Photography, New York, NY. 2002 Manual (with Christoph Girardet), Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, UK. Private Affairs, Kunsthaus Dresden, UK. Blow up your TV, York City Art Gallery, York, UK. Deep Space: Sensation and Immersion, Australian Center for the Moving Image, Melbourne, Australia. Hausordnung, Stadthaus Ulm, Germany. 2001 Playing Amongst the Ruins, Royal College of Art, London, UK. Dokumentation und Fiktion, Kunstverein München, Germany. City Symphony, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy. Tele(visions), Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria. Desktop Icons, Center for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Scotland. 2000 Utopias, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK. Monter/Sampler, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France. Borderline Syndrome, Manifesta 3, European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia. 1999 Notorious: Alfred Hitckcock and Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK. The American Century: Art and Culture Part II: 1950-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. 1998 Claustrophobia, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK. Ghost Story, Künstlerhaus Wein, Vienna, Austria. 1997 Media in Media, Soros Centre for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Documenta X, Kassel, Germany.

Matthias Müller Vacancy 1998 16 mm film transferred to DVD, projected, 14:30 minutes Courtesy Thomas Erben Gallery, New York

Further Reading
Cagle, Robert, “Matthias Müller – Home Stories,” Claustrophobia, exh. cat. (Ikon Gallery: Birmingham, UK, 1998): 62-65
Clark, Robert, “Manual,” The Guardian, February 20, 2002: 21
Darke, Chris, “The Lost World,” exh. guide (Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool & Milch Gallery, London, UK 2002)
Hoolboom, Mike, “Scattering Stars – The Films of Matthias Müller,” Millenium Film Journal no.30/31(1997): 80-88
Merrick, Jay, “A Tale of Two Model Cities,” The Independent, March 12, 2001: 12
Parker, Graham, "Christoph Girardet and Matthias Müller: Bluecoat Gallery," Art Monthly no.255 (Apr. 2002): 32-33
Winfred Günther, “Uberall ist Schönheit. Zu den Filmen von Matthias Müller,” epd film no.12 (Dec. 1996): 18-21

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