Michael Schindhelm

• Name — Michael Schindhelm • Born — 1 October 1960 • Birthplace — Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany • Occupation — Author, filmmaker and curator • Website — https: michaelschindhelm.com/

Schindhelm grew up in the former GDR and completed his Abitur with an emphasis on chemistry. He studied at the Voronezh State University in the former Soviet Union graduating with a master's degree in quantum chemistry. From 1984 to 1986 he started his work as assistant professor for the Zentralinstitut für physikalische Chemie of the East Berlin Academy of Science where he worked in the department of theoretical chemistry (director: Lutz Zülicke) along with the current German chancellor Angela Merkel. He then worked as translator, author, and dramatic advisor until 1990.

In 1990, Schindhelm became advisor to the theater manager in Nordhausen, and then director of the Theater Nordhausen/Loh-Orchester Sondershausen Foundation. In 1992 he was appointed theatre director in Gera. From 1994 to 1996 he was founding Director General of the theater and opera house Theater & Philharmonie Thueringen in Gera and Altenburg. From 1996 to 2006 he acted as director of the Theater Basel (Switzerland), performing opera, drama, and ballet. Theater Basel was Theatre of the Year 1999 in the German-speaking countries and received the Bavarian Theatre Award in the same year and in 2001. From 1997 to 2005 he served also as president of the Sinfonieorchester Basel. In April 2005 he was appointed general director of the Opernstiftung (opera foundation) in Berlin. He acted as the first Director General of the newly founded Opernstiftung Berlin comprising Berlin's three opera houses (Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Deutsche Oper Berlin).

• 2008: Dubai Next, Vitra Museum Weil • 2014: Friday in Venice, Architectural Biennale Venice • 2018: Zurich Oracle, Audio-Intervention in public Spaces in Zurich • 2019: Neue Heimat Dresden 2025, Deutsches Hygienemuseum Dresden • 2022: Projekt Lightspeed, Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin • 2024: The End of Aging, KBH.G Basel • 2024: Roots, KBH.G Basel • 2025: After The Deluge, BiodiverCity, Interfinity Festival, Basel

• Schwarzerde by Klaus Huber (Basel, 2001) on the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam • Welten in Quecksilberlicht by Cong Su, (Berlin, 2006) about the Chinese poet Gu Cheng In 2003 Schindhelm appeared as a TV anchorman and as a host in the Swiss German TV talk show “Der Salon”. He has translated works by Gogol, Chekhov and Mandelstam into German.

Schindhelm continues to work as novelist, librettist, film documentarist and translator (Russian/German). He has published seven books since 2000 (fiction and non-fiction). His previous works include Lavapolis, a transmedia story published in German (Matthes & Seitz Berlin, 2014) and in English (Sternberg Press, 2014) which integrated a web platform lavapolis.com as well as a live participation at La Biennale di Venezia 2014, and Dubai Speed which has been published in German (dtv, 2009) and in English under the title Dubai High (Arabian Publishing, 2011). He wrote the opera libretto to Klaus Huber's Schwarzerde (Basel, 2001) on the Russian poet Osip Mandelstam and to Cong Su's Welten in Quecksilberlicht (Berlin, 2006) about the Chinese poet Gu Cheng. In 2003 he filmed the documentary Lied von der Steppe in the Gobi Desert in collaboration with Jörg Jeshel. Between 2003 and 2008, he filmed the documentary Birds Nest on the making of the Beijing National Stadium in collaboration with Christoph Schaub. In 2003 Schindhelm appeared as a TV anchorman and as a host in the Swiss German TV talk show Der Salon. He has translated works by Gogol, Chekhov and Mandelstam into German. February 2016 saw the premiere of his film The Chinese Lives of Uli Sigg about the Swiss entrepreneur, philanthropist and art collector Uli Sigg who created the first joint venture of a Western corporation in China (1979 with Schindler Elevators) and the largest collection of contemporary Chinese art on the planet which he donated a part of to Hong Kong's M+ museum in 2012.

• Chants of the Steppes (2004) about music of nomads in the desert Gobi (Mongolia). • Bird's Nest (2008) on the making of Beijing's Olympic Games Stadium (designed by Swiss architectural firm Herzog&deMeuron). • The Chinese Lives of Uli Sigg (2016) Theatrical Release February (Europe), March (Asia) • Revolution in Medicine. Project Biontech (2021). Documentary about the founders of BioNTech and the creation of the first vaccine against COVID-19. • Outland (2021). Ticino, Switzerland's Southern canton, as a refuge for the nonconformists and migrants of the past and the present. • In the Mood for Art (2023). Documentary about the M+ museum and Hong Kong's art scene.