Mathias Müller

Matthias Müller is a German experimental filmmaker and curator known for his work in the realm of found footage films.

Biography of Matthias Müller

Matthias Müller was born in 1961 in Bielefeld, Germany. He studied Arts and German Literature at Bielefeld University and Fine Arts at HBK Braunschweig, where he earned a Master's degree. Since 2003, he has been a Professor of Experimental Film at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in Cologne.

Müller has organized numerous avant-garde film events, including the "Found Footage Film Festival" (1996 & 1999) and the first German festival of autobiographical films "Ich etc." (1998), as well as various touring programs.

His films and videos have been showcased at major international film festivals, including Cannes. His work is included in several prestigious collections, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, Museu d’Art Contemporani in Barcelona, Nederlands Film Museum in Amsterdam, Australian Centre For The Moving Image in Melbourne, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, the Goetz Collection in Munich, the collection of Isabelle and Jean-Conrad Lemaître in London, and Tate Modern in London.

Müller's films have earned numerous accolades at international festivals, including the American Federation of Arts Experimental Film Award in 1988, the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1996, the top prize at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen in 1999, the Ken Burns “Best of the Festival” Award at the Ann Arbor Film Festival in 2003, and the German Short Film Prize for Animation in 2006.

Currently, the artist is based in both Bielefeld and Cologne, Germany.

Matthias Müller's Art Style

Matthias Müller's art is characterized by his engagement with questions of memory, traces of the past, and the historical body. His works encompass a range of media, including Super 8 films, found footage, analogue and digital image media, and cinematographic installations.

Müller's approach merges Hollywood, avant-garde film, and queer cinema, reflecting the radical changes in media and representation technologies of the eighties and nineties. This convergence has expanded the cinematic landscape to include art spaces, allowing Müller to make significant contributions to both the film and art worlds. His films, videos, and installations serve as central points for a variety of interrelated approaches, making his work a vital part of the unwritten history of experimental cinema in Germany.