Draft:Michael Just

Michael Just (born 1979 Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is a German interdisciplinary artist and educator.

Biography
Michael Just studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 2000 to 2007, completing his studies under Daniel Buren with a diploma (MA) and Meisterschüler. . From 2004 to 2006, he was assistant to Daniel Buren. While in Düsseldorf, he also worked with Elia Zenghelis (architecture) and Hubert Kiecol (integration of arts and architecture).

From 2007 to 2009, he studied at the University of London, Goldsmiths, with a DAAD postgraduate scholarship and the EHF-Fellowship from the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, earning an MFA in Art Practice. He lived in New York City from 2010 to 2012, participating in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program from 2010 to 2011.

Michael Just is currently a doctoral candidate at the City University of Hong Kong, School of Creative Media, and a Visiting Researcher at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, with the Ecologies of Architecture Research Group.

Since 2023, he has been a member of the Steering Committee of DigitalFUTURES where he chaired the jury for the 2023 Mark Cousins Theory Award.

Michael Just teaches part-time at Hong Kong Baptist University, Academy of Visual Arts. Since 2008, he has maintained a studio in Berlin-Kreuzberg and currently lives and works in Berlin, Hong Kong, and the Südburgenland region in Austria

Artistic Practice
Michael Just's work has engaged early on with public space, architecture, urbanism, and design within the framework of a relational practice. The focus of his work revolves around the question of how art can facilitate new relationships and thus become a transformative force within society. This approach is explicitly post-anthropocentric and decolonial, envisioning artistic methods and models for the integration and coexistence of diverse forms of cognition and intelligence—both biological and technological—across various substrates and timescales. His work is primarily constituted through interdisciplinary collaboration and often falls within the realm of artistic research, understood as the communicability and applicability of insights gained systematically through artistic methods to various scientific disciplines.

In its primary orientation as transformative knowledge production, Michael Just's work integrates pedagogy, as well as the design of educational institutions, physically and conceptually at the same time. Here, architecture and medicine overlap in light of social regeneration and repair

Teaching (Selection)
Michael Just has taught at universities and art schools since 2004. He has participated in conferences on methods of artistic research and art education and has published on these topics, most recently as part of CAMP Notes on Education at documenta fifteen.

Institutions at which Michael Just has taught include the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany (2004-2006, with Daniel Buren), Goldsmiths, University of London, UK (2008, Teaching Assistant), Accademia di Belle Arti Napoli, Italy (2010), Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, USA (2012), Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, USA (2015), Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China (2017), China Academy of Art, School of Design and Innovation, Hangzhou, China (2020) and Hong Kong Baptist University, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong SAR (2023–2024)

Exhibitions and Collections (Selection)
Solo- and Group Exhibitions in which Michael Just's work has been shown include: Avenir de Villes / Future for Cities (Site Alstom, Nancy, 2005), A y regarder de près (Mrac Occitanie, Sérignan, 2005), Counterpoints (Benaki Museum, Athens, 2005), Experience Pommery #4: L'Emprise du Lieu (Domaine Pommery, Reims, 2007), Believe Me! (KIT, Düsseldorf, 2008), ONE TWO X YOU, (SOUTERRAIN, Berlin), Bloomberg Newcontemporaries (Cornerhouse, Manchester / A Foundation, London, 2009), PAN Studios 2010 (Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, 2010), Informal Relations (Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2010), Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program Studio Program Exhibition, 2011, Surface Meanings (Artisanal House, New York City, 2013), Checkpoint California (Deutsche Bank KunstHalle, 2015), MMCA Residents (MMCA Seoul, 2018), Youngtoyoung 2020 (China Academy of Art, 2020), 60 Days of Lockdown (Luxelakes A4 Museum, Chengdu), Beyond Smart Cities (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Hong Kong Innovation Node, 2022), Rivers: Jugular Veins of Empire (University of the Arts, London, 2022), Vestiges of the Future (Narbo Via, Narbonne, 2023).

His work is held in private and public collections in North America, Europe and Asia: Mrac Occitanie, Sérignan, Benaki Museum, Athens, Vranken-Pommery, Reims, Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Peppermint Holding, Berlin, Peter and Alison Klein Collection, Nussdorf-Eberdingen, Nationalbank, Essen, Luxelakes A4 Art Museum, Chengdu, KNPZ Law, Hamburg.

Awards (Selection)
Awards, grants and fellowships include: EHF-Fellowship, Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, Germany, 2007, DAAD Postgraduate Fellowship, Germany, 2007, PAN Studios, Palazzo delle Arti Napoli, Italy, 2010 , Villa Aurora, Los Angeles, USA, 2012 , MMCA Residency, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul, Korea, 2018.

Catalogs

 * Avenir de Villes / Future for Cities, Editions du Moniteur, Nancy, France, 2005 ISBN 2-281-19268-7
 * Counterpoints, Benaki Museum / J.F. Costopoulos Foundation / incontri internazionale d'arte, Athens, Greece, 2005
 * A Sérignan, Contre toute logique...15 ans d'art contemporain, Somogy Editions d'Art, France, 2006 ISBN 2-7572-0038-0
 * Experience Pommery #4: L'Emprise du Lieu, Beaux Arts Magazine, Paris, France, 2007 ISBN 2-84278-538-X
 * Michael Just: Work 2000-2007, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany, 2007
 * Believe Me! Bildhauerei zwischen Sein und Schein, Lido - Das Magazin von Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2008
 * Bloomberg Newcontemporaries 2009, New Contemporaries, London, UK, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9540848-9-9
 * Checkpoint California, Villa Aurora e.V., DISTANZ Verlag, Germany, 2015 ISBN 978-3-95476-111-1
 * MMCA Residency Annual Report 2018, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art MMCA Seoul, Korea, 2018, ISBN 978-89-6303-212-2
 * Beyond Smart Cities, MIT Hong Kong Innovation Node / MIT City Science / MIT Media Lab, Hong Kong SAR, 2022
 * Vestiges du Futur, Narbo Via: Parcours d'Art Contemporain, Narbonne, France, 2023

Articles and Media

 * Emules de Buren à Sérignan, Midi Plus, France, September 8 2005
 * Daniel Buren: "Mieux vaut le qualitatif au quantitatif", L'Hérault du Jour, France, September 4 2005
 * De jeunes créateurs en libre excès, Hérault Juridique & Economique, France, September 14 2005
 * ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΤΥΠΙΑ, Απο σημερα η εκδεση 5 νεων καλλιτεχνων οτο Μπενακη "Αντιστιξειζ" στο Μουσειο, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece, December 4 2005
 * Fassio, Bertrand: Il se passe toujours quelque chose a Sérignan, Gazette Economique & Culturelle, France, September 26 2006
 * Funken, Peter: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! (war face): Überlegungen zu einer neuen Skulptur von Michael Just, Lido - Das Magazin von Kunst im Tunnel, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2008
 * Kröner, Magdalena: Believe Me!, Kunstforum International 190, pp. 324-327, Germany, 2008 ISBN 978-3-8030-3323-9
 * Sebastian, Klaus: Im Tunnelschlund, Rheinische Post, Germany, January 25 2008
 * Junge Bildhauer zwischen Sein und Schein, Wetzlaer Neue Zeitung, Germany, January 27 2008
 * Meister, Helga: Kontrast von Schein und Sein, Westdeutsche Zeitung, Germany, January 30 2008
 * Van Treeck, Timo: Im Kunsttunnel brennt Licht, Rheinische Post, Germany, March 22 2008
 * Believe me! - KIT Kunst im Tunnel / Düsseldorf, Germany, Vernissage.tv - The Window to the Art World, Germany, February 7 2008
 * Sokhan, Alena: Grasping at the Present at Eigen+Art Lab, Berlin Art Link, Germany, October 29 2014
 * Camplin, Todd: Michael Just at CYDONIA, Moderndallas.net, USA, January 30 2015
 * Smart, Jennifer: On the Circular Nature of History: Michael Just at CYDONIA, Arts and Culture Texas, Dallas, TX, USA, January 31 2015
 * Hohmann, Angela: Sonniges Schloss am Meer, Berliner Morgenpost, Germany, June 13 2015
 * Federl, Fabian: 20 Jahre Villa Aurora: Ein Bett in der Fremde, Tagesspiegel, Berlin, Germany, June 14 2015
 * Rickels, Laurence A.: Checkpoint California in The integrated Vampire (and what goes on with it), Passagen Verlag, Vienna, Austria, 2017 ISBN 978-3-7092-0257-9

Examples of publications by Michael Just

 * Just, Michael: Notes on Autonomy, Experience Pommery #4: L'Emprise du Lieu, Beaux Arts Magazine, Paris, France, 2007 ISBN 2-84278-538-X
 * Just, Michael: Consent, Antagonism and Similar Contingencies: A Multi-Dialectical Approach to Relational Aesthetics, MFA 2009, Goldsmiths, University of London, pp. 60-79, London, UK, 2009
 * Just, Michael: Transformation, Manufacturing and the Productive Forces of Knowledge and Language: A Temporary Socio-Economic System for the Distribution of Meaning, Gazzetta PAN Studios 2010, pp. 32-44, Naples, Italy, 2010
 * Just, Michael: Towards a Pedagogy of Autonormativity, CAMP Notes on Education, documenta fifteen, Kassel, Germany, 2022