Markus Miessen

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Bio

Markus Miessen (1978) MRes AADipl(Hons) B.Arch

is a London- and Berlin- based architect, researcher, educator, and writer. In 2002, he set up Studio Miessen, a platform for spatial strategy and critical cultural analysis. As an architect, Miessen is a partner in nOffice. Their site-specific architecture titled The Violence of Participation was on show at the Lyon Biennial 2007. The office is currently working on a series of international projects, amongst others a high-alpine library and cultural centre, which will house the entire private archive and collection of the Swiss curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, a library in Brazil and a large scale architectural installation with an artist based in NY.

In the past, Miessen has consulted to London-based General Public Agency, advised the European Kunsthalle on its spatial strategy, and wrote cultural policy proposals for the think tank for everyday democracy Demos. Currently, he is developing a long-term project with the Department for Education and Public Programmes at the Serpentine Gallery, developing alternative spatial typologies for contemporary archives and libraries, and is consulting to the Consul General of Slovenia in New York on a project that investigates the imaginary East Coast Europe.

As a writer, Miessen has contributed, edited and advised globally, with published articles in more than 30 different international titles, from academic to scientific to popular culture. He is the editor of The Violence of Participation (Sternberg Press, 2007), co-editor of With/Without – Spatial Products, Practices and Politics in the Middle East (Bidoun, 2007) and Did Someone Say Participate? An Atlas of Spatial Practice (MIT Press, 2006), co-author of Spaces of Uncertainty (Müller+Busmann, 2002), and is most recently developing a publication with Hans Ulrich Obrist titled My Favourite Book. Miessen acts as editorial consultant to Volume (Amsterdam) and Bidoun (New York), and supports Build Magazine as Deputy Editor.

His work has been exhibited internationally and has received numerous awards and prizes including from the Flemisch Government (Brussels), Stimuleringsfonds voor Architectuur (Amsterdam), Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Berlin), the Henry Saxon Snell Prize, and was nominated for the RIBA Silver Medal.

He has lectured widely, including at Columbia University NY, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Berlage Institute, the Venice and Istanbul Biennials, Centro Cultural Tijuana (Mexico), Stuttgart University, the Royal College of Art (London), Van Alen Institute NYC, Museum für Angewandte Kunst Cologne, International Design Forum Dubai, and the Camp for Oppositional Architecture at Casco, Utrecht.

Teaching as a Unit Master at London’s Architectural Association since 2004, he has recently initiated and now directs the AA Winter School Middle East in collaboration with the American University in Sharjah and The Third Line gallery.

Miessen studied at Glasgow School of Art (BArch), graduated from the Architectural Association with Honours (AADipl), received a Master in Research degree from the London Consortium (MRes), and is currently a Doctoral candidate at the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, London, investigating conflict- and non-consensus-based forms of participation as a form of alternative spatial practice.

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