Michael Kliën (*1973, Austria) is a choreographer and artist whose work has been situated around the world. Kliën’s artistic practice encompasses interdisciplinary thinking, critical writing, curatorial projects, and, centrally, choreographic works. Equally, at home in the Performing and the Fine Arts, his choreographies have been predominantly dance-based works for stages, galleries, or alternative spaces, marked by sophisticated improvisation methodologies and movement aesthetics. Increasingly, Social Choreographies form a central part of his artistic practice.
Widely acknowledged as a notable thinker in dance today, he has been commissioned by leading institutions such as Ballett Frankfurt, Martha Graham Dance Company, New Museum, PS122, Volksoper Wien, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Hayward Gallery, and Z.K.M. As Artistic Director of Daghdha (2003—2011, Ireland), he developed a distinct movement aesthetic, corresponding to concepts of politically engaged choreography, performance, and dance. In 2009, he received a Ph.D. from the Edinburgh College of Art, and, as a committed teacher, has been lecturing about his findings at leading academic and non-academic institutions. After living and working in Greece for five years (where he co-founded the arts-organization R.I.C.E.), he was appointed Professor at Duke University in 2017, inaugural director of the M.F.A. in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis in 2018, and director of the Laboratory for Social Choreography at the Kenan Institute of Ethics in 2020.
Amongst a considerable body of work, Michael Kliën’s seminal choreographies include Einem for Ballett Frankfurt, Sediments of an Ordinary Mind for Daghdha Dance Company (Limerick), Choreography for Blackboards for Hayward Gallery (London), Slattery’s Lamp for IMMA’s (Irish Museum of Modern Art) permanent collection, State of the Union for New Museum/Martha Graham Dance Company (New York), and Parliament. Solo-exhibitions include IMMA (Dublin) and Benaki Museum (Athens).
06.04.2022
