Michael Sailstorfer
In his installations and sculptures, Michael Sailstorfer (*1979, lives and works in Berlin, DE) combines physical materiality with a poetic dimension to open dialogs between space, movement and transformation. Processes such as decay, growth or movement extend this connection to a temporal level that takes the works beyond their materiality. From car tires and concrete to light and sound, he places numerous materials and techniques in new contexts of meaning and allows processes of change to become a central component of the work, giving it a performative character. With an experimental approach, he questions the functionality, symbolism and perception of everyday objects and materials, exploring the dynamics of change and transience. Through movement, sound interventions and kinetic elements, Sailstorfer actively intervenes in the environment. By deconstructing and recontextualizing objects, he creates works that unfold both a concise physical presence and narrative depth - carried by a humorous lightness that permeates his process of socio-cultural reflection.
Michael Sailstorfer was awarded the Darmstädter Sezession Prize for Sculpture (2002) and the Vattenfall Contemporary (2012). His works are represented in renowned collections such as the Center Pompidou in Paris, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt and the Berlinische Galerie. In recent years, he has had solo exhibitions at the Pejman Foundation in Tehran (2023), the Kurhaus Museum Kleve (2022) and the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (2022). In 2018 he was represented at the Riga Biennale in Latvia.
